The Incredible Kong
by Spidershadow5
Summary: A brilliant scientist goes on the run from his country's military, due to an experiment that left him with incredible power he can't control. He desperately searches for a cure, but his power may be needed more than he thought. Based on The Incredible Hulk 2008. Second installment in the Marvelous Smashing Universe.
1. Chapter 1: Brought Back to Reality

**I'm FINALLY getting started on this! Anyway, for newcomers, you really don't have to read "Iron Woman" before reading this, but feel free to. The plot structure of the original movie will be altered a little bit, mostly in this intro, which is cut down. Certain scenes will be moved to the next chapter. Anyways, read, review, and enjoy!**

 **AN: I'll be going over Iron Woman, and changing all references to the United Federation to just the United States. The only reason I changed it was because I was trying to fit more Metroid lore in, and looking back, it sounds really stupid.**

 **One more thing. I do have all of this story to finish before it becomes an issue, but I need your help on something: I need character ideas for Iron Woman 2. Mostly Whiplash, but Justin Hammer's giving me trouble, too. I have a Black Widow picked out, but I'm open to other ideas. So, if you have any suggestions, please either write them in the reviews, or PM me.**

* * *

 **The Incredible Kong**

Chapter 1: Brought Back to Reality

 **Brazil**

Gritting his teeth, he mentally steeled himself, taking deep breaths and focusing on his emotions and respiration. This time, he had to stay completely calm. No freakouts, no hyperventilation, nothing. With a quick glance at his pulse watch, he jabbed the needle into his thigh.

And squealed like a little girl.

Once he was done whining, Luigi Martin sighed. He still couldn't get himself to stop reacting to tiny amounts of pain. He glanced at his monitor once again, surprised to see it hadn't risen very far above one hundred, despite the aforementioned incident. Luigi allowed himself a satisfied smile behind his bushy brown mustache. Maybe he was getting better at this after all. That fact that it'd been nearly six months since his last...experience helped, too.

He uncrossed his legs, releasing his body from the meditating position he had taken up in the middle of the floor, grabbing and putting his green shirt back on. Luigi hated having to do these exercises, especially since he was a rather timid man, and had never needed anger management, or anything of the sort in his life. His mind brought him back to reality, reminding him exactly why he was in this town, and why he had to do them. He glanced at the picture frame he'd placed on the nearby desk, showing himself, although younger, more handsome and less worn, along with a young woman with brown hair. The both smiled happily, affectionately embracing. For a moment, Luigi allowed his thoughts to wander back to home, before banishing them as he always had. It was pointless to think about her, or home.

Perhaps some explanation would be suitable at this point. Luigi was a rather ordinary looking man, standing about five foot six, with blue eyes, a round nose, straight brown hair, and a thick mustache. He was a brilliant physicist, but he'd been forced to hide out in various towns across the Americas for the past five years. Luigi had a rather unique...condition, that made it difficult for him to live a normal life. He'd spent his time looking for cures, as nothing else had been on his mind.

A ping from his computer distracted him. Going over to it, he realized he had received another message. He'd been in contact with a man all with a man all the way up in the States, hoping to find a solution to his predicament. Before opening the message, Luigi took a brief moment to ensure the encryption code he'd installed on the laptop long ago was still up and running. It was, of course, and it had never failed him before, but he could never be too careful. With the conversation securely private, he opened his new message.

"GREEN THUNDER. SAMPLE RECIEVED. THE EARLY ANTIDOTE TESTS PROMISING," read the newest note from his contact, Evershade Valley.

Luigi's gasped in surprise, and he took a moment to contain his excitement before replying "HOW MUCH LONGER DO YOU NEED TO FINISH IT?"

There was no reply for a minute, as though the man on the other end was hesitating. Finally, a new message popped up. "CANNOT COMPLETE WITH CURRENT INFORMATION. I NEED THE DATA FROM THE TIME OF EXPOSURE."

The mustached man stifled a sob, burying his face in his hands. Of course this would happen. It was no different from every other cure he'd sought out. Either it didn't work, or there was some impossible obstacle that ensured he could never try it. Somehow, he willed himself to type, "I DON'T HAVE THE DATA."

"WHO DOES?" was the reply.

Luigi briefly turned back to the picture of himself, allowing another tear to fall from his eye before he responded again. "SOMEONE I CAN NEVER SEE AGAIN."

"LOOK, FELLER, YOU'RE A TOUGH GUY. WHATEVER HAPPENED, I'M SURE YOU CAN GET PAST IT."

Luigi stared at the encouraging reply for a long time. He truly wished he could believe it, but the rational part of his brain shot that thought down, too. There was no word for it other than impossible. Evershade didn't know what had happened to him. Resentfully, he stood up and closed the laptop.

* * *

 **American Military Plane, En Route to Zapopan**

The small group of soldiers gathered in the plane spent the trip quietly preparing for their mission. All of them had experience with low profile assignments such as this, and had no fear whatsoever of screwing it up. It was simple: sneak up on the guy, tranq him, grab him, and get out. No excessive tactical bull to get in the way.

The leader of the little team, Mumkhar Valak, was a British Special-Ops Commando brought in for this mission, which he suspected was thanks to several bribes. Mumkhar was an intimidating man, with a tough build, greasy black hair, and a gravely voice. He'd been serving in armed forces for the majority of his life, and was now in his forties, meaning he'd couldn't stay on the battlefield for much longer, a fact he detested. Mumkhar was about as ruthless as he looked, and lived for the thrill of battle and the glory of victory, not to mention the praise from the common people.

At the moment, Mr. Valek was currently reviewing the details of their target, a Luigi Martin. "We're supposed to treat this bloke as a maximum level threat?" he snapped, "He's bloody puny! He doesn't even look like he could hit a kid!" Mumkhar hated this assignment, and in truth, he only agreed to it to get out into the field. He wanted a challenge to his considerable skills, not some American scientist to chase for five seconds.

Most of the soldiers on the plane made no response, but Mumkhar's attention was drawn to the front of the transport. He turned his head, facing down General Adamska "Revolver" Ocelot. Now, Ocelot was probably the only person on the plane who could stare down Mumkhar and get away with it, and all the soldiers were suddenly thankful Ocelot was in charge here. Not only was he taller, he also had the same muscular body, despite being well past middle age. His white hair drifted down past his shoulders, and a thick, white mustache to rival Luigi's covered his upper lip, giving him the appearance of a constant scowl. He carried a commanding presence that made everyone in the immediate presence with a weak will want to follow his orders, and the jagged scar between his eyebrows signaled to the world not to challenge his authority. As if that wasn't enough, everyone in the vicinity knew the stories of how he'd gone through both the Korean War and Vietnam using only his namesake weapon. People doubted the accuracy of the story, of course, but nobody was willing to ask him.

"That 'bloke,'" Ocelot replied, never blinking as he glared into Mumkhar, "Is responsible for the deaths of multiple soldiers, using stolen military biological weapons. In addition, he is suspected of selling them to terrorists, both foreign and domestic. Not to mention the civilian murders. So, yes, he is a maximum level threat. Any other stupid questions, or should I just drop you off the plane now?"

That shut Mumkhar up.

* * *

 **Brazil**

Most of Luigi's nights were spent slaving away at his job in the local mushroom packing plant. If he had to be honest, part of it still confused him. Why would anybody want a mushroom out of a brick block that you basically had to smash with a hammer to open? Then again, it was easy work, and he got paid, so he didn't complain. As long as he wouldn't starve, it didn't matter.

A man, whose name he didn't know, stomped past him, accidentally bumping Luigi in the back and making him drop the block he'd been holding. The man spun around, yelling at Luigi, who struggled to mentally translate the Portuguese insults being thrown at him. It wasn't that Luigi was bad at speaking or understanding other languages, he just had trouble remembering what every word meant.

" _Don't get in my way, gringo! Move your butt out of the road!_ " snapped the man. A few years ago, Luigi would've politely pointed out that he was on the far edge of the aisle, and the man might not have been paying attention to where he was going. However, time had changed, and doing that would only result in an argument, with undesirable consequences.

So, Luigi took a deep breath, calming himself down, before he responded. " _Yes...sorry, my...problem,_ " he said in broken Portuguese. The man gave him an oddball look, but eventually turned and walked away.

Luigi breathed a sigh of relief. Another crisis averted. He was just about to turn back to his work, when his eye caught something over by the door to the factory. The owner, his boss, was talking to a group of people, led by a man with black hair, wearing black combat gear, and carrying large, nasty looking guns. The owner turned around and pointed out Luigi.

Crap.

Luigi immediately excused himself from his work station. Sure, he'd probably get fired if he made it out of this alive, but that didn't exactly concern him right now. He grabbed his bag, which contained all of his notes, as well as his precious laptop. He briefly contemplated going to grab his street clothes from his locker, but quickly dismissed that thought, as he noticed the armed soldiers were already trying to aim at him. Abandoning all attempts to seem casual, Luigi rushed out the back door as fast as his legs could carry him.

* * *

"Target is on the move," barked Mumkhar into his radio. The reply assured him that the intercept team was in position to do what they did best, so he took off after Luigi, followed by his men. Luigi sprinted out the door of the factory, rushing straight into the heart of the late night crowd. A common tactic, trying to lose one's pursuers in a massive group of people. However, Mumkhar was too well trained for that, and he ensure he could always see at least one part of Luigi at all times.

He did have to hand it to the American, he could run. Luigi seemed to be able to anticipate the perfect direction to turn to avoid the crowd of people, never tripping up or crashing into anything. Clearly, he'd done this before. Mumkhar's team, on the other hand, had to push the civilians out of the way, and could never be still enough to get a good shot at Luigi.

* * *

Despite his appearance, Luigi was far more physically capable than most people would expect. Even before his life collapsed, he'd kept in pretty good shape, and his years of running away from soldiers had only made him even better. It was only his confidence in his athletic ability that convinced him to do what he was about to do.

He suddenly changed direction, veering off into an alley on the right. As he sprinted, he bent down to grab a piece of asphalt from the ground, then jumped and bounced off of a trash can, landing of a high level of the fire escape. He hurried up to the roof, rushing across and knocking down some poor sap's clothesline. At the edge, he made a quick leap, kicking with both of his feet as he sailed through the air to land on the next building, all while ignoring the sounds of his pursuers struggling to climb up after him. His target, one of the gunners meant to head him off, was dead ahead. That was something that always worked in Luigi's favor. These guys were always predictable.

The soldier had just received the notice over his radio that Luigi was headed in his direction, and turned just in time to see the man bearing down on him. He raised his weapon, but Luigi was faster, chucking the piece of asphalt at him and momentarily distracting him. Thanks to this, the tranquilizer darts he fired missed Luigi entirely, and gave the mustached man just enough time to leapfrog over him, slamming him face first into the roof. The guy wasn't seriously injured or anything, but Luigi was out of his sight before he could fully recover.

"Target's evaded Interception Team!" roared Mumkhar into his radio as he continued to chase after Luigi. He came across the gunman Luigi had knocked over, showing no hesitation in running over the poor man's back and stepping on him.

"Dammit!" Ocelot shouted from his observation vehicle. He was currently observing the chase from cameras on the soldier's suits, keeping his eyes on Luigi, and continuously screaming at his troops to get Luigi. Mumkhar managed to fire a few tranquilizers at the man, but they fell short.

Luigi, panic rising by the second, decided it was time for a change of pace. His monitor was beeping rapidly as his heart rate rose, and he literally needed a breather. Vaulting over the next ledge, Luigi dived downwards, bouncing off a brick wall and landing in another alley. It would take those soldiers a few seconds to reach him, giving him time to lose them. However, upon emerging from the alley, Luigi was greeted with a black van pulling up, with the side door opening and a familiar, white haired man staring him down.

Luigi screamed, mostly out of surprise, his mustache shooting out in both directions, before he tore off in another direction. Ocelot raised his trademark weapon, firing several custom tranquilizers, but they missed their terrified target. Mumkhar and the others came out of the alley seconds later, and were rewarded with Ocelot calling them brain dead morons and pointing after Luigi.

Said fugitive had made some progress down the street, and ducked into yet another alley before Mumkhar could spot him. Luigi then proceeded to make history by being the only person ever to calm down in a spooky black alley, taking deep breaths, desperately trying to lower his heart rate. Staring at his monitor, Luigi saw the number slowly go down, and took a moment to thank all those yoga classes. Getting up, he ran down to the end of the alley, trying to think of a place he could hide out until they gave up.

Unfortunately, his thoughts proved to be his downfall for the day, as Luigi ended up crashing into the back of an anthropomorphic turtle-like creature, knocking him down into several of his friends. Luigi recovered, turned to the turtles, and felt fear rising in his chest.

Hammer Bros. Some of the most notorious delinquents in the city. That was just what he needed at this particular moment. The Hammer Bros immediately drew their trademark weapons, shouting at him in Portuguese. Luigi didn't even bother to try and translate, pulling a one-eighty and running for his life. The Hammer Bros, infuriated, gave chase.

As if the unmentionable hadn't hit the fan enough for poor Luigi, his little trip-up had given Mumkhar another chance to spot him. Roaring into his radio, Mumkhar relayed the American's location to all troops. Luigi hadn't run very far when he jumped over a locked gate, diving into large, black building with a clear "KEEP OUT" sign, followed by his new turtle friends, who simply broke the door down.

Mumkhar was a bit annoyed at the Hammer Bros' interference, but he was smart enough to recognize opportunity. There was no way the American could avoid both them and these thugs. He immediately ordered all of his soldiers to make their way to the other entrance, and take up sniping positions. The building, an old warehouse, had plenty of walkways above the floor, as well as crates to hide behind, and little light, giving the night-vision bearing soldiers the advantage.

Poor Luigi wasn't even thinking about them at this time. His heart rate had gone up again, and he needed to calm down, fast. He ducked behind a forklift, bracing himself against it to catch his breath. Unfortunately for him, he didn't catch the fist that came flying at the back of his head, slamming his face into metal and making his nose bleed. Dazed, he felt two arms grab his shoulders and twist him around to face the Hammer Bros.

One fatter turtle, who seemed to be the leader, advanced on him while his friends grabbed Luigi's arms.

"No, not the bag, not the bag!" protested Luigi, as they grabbed it and hurled it aside. He tried to break out of their grip to retrieve it, but the leader punched him in the gut, driving him back. His breath quickened as he felt his heart speed up even further.

" _Ya think you can mess with us, gringo?_ " snapped the leader.

Desperate, Luigi decided talking it out was probably his only option. Then again, the fact that less and less oxygen was reaching his brain probably wasn't helping. " _Hungry!_ " he exclaimed, _"Hungry! Me, hungry! Not good!_ "

The Hammer Bros just stared at him. " _You keep using that word,_ " said the leader, _"I don't think it means what you think it means._ "

Luigi swore, cursing his lack of proficiency in Portuguese. " _ANGRY!"_ he almost screamed, " _ME! ANGRY! YOU NO LIKE ME WHEN I ANGRY!"_ This, of course, didn't help his current predicament, or slow his heart rate.

The Hammer Bro, blissfully oblivious, laughed it off and continued punching him. At the same time, Mumkhar and his team were getting into position, taking shooting positions. Mumkhar himself stood on the highest walkway overlooking Luigi and the turtles, taking aim directly at the American's neck. It was a perfect shot. He pulled the trigger.

Of course, Mumkhar had to have luck just as bad as Luigi, who managed to headbutt the leader of the Hammer Bros a nanosecond before the tranquilizer flew towards his head. The dart bounced harmlessly off the forklift behind him. Luigi then broke free of the turtles' grip by stomping on both their feet, scrambling off into the darkness. The shower of tranquilizers that followed after Luigi only managed to hit one of the Hammer Bros.

Luigi stumbled away, clutching his skull in agony, as he felt every muscle and bone in his body burn. He didn't need the constant beeping from his monitor to tell him what was coming. He'd experienced the change so many times that he would never fail to recognize the grinding of the bones and loss of rational thought. He desperately tried to fight it, but it was already too late. He looked at his arms, watching the long, brown hair begin to spread across them once more. In despair, Luigi threw his head skyward and gave a blood-curdling scream.

* * *

The Hammer Bros, furious that their newest punching bag was getting away, and immediately gave chase. Their leader, pulling out his weapon, called out into the darkness, " _Oh, gringo! Don't run away! We want to be your best frie-"_

He never did get to finish that insult, thanks to an interruption. That interruption took the form of a massive, hairy fist that emerged out of the darkness. The lead Hammer Bro was hit so hard he actually punched through the concrete walls of the warehouse, flying into multiple crates on his way. The crates went flying up into the air, spraying their contents into the sky. The remaining Hammer Bros, unable to see exactly what had attacked their leader, made the first smart decision of their lives and turned around to flee. Their escape was cut off by an earth-shaking roar, as the hairy hand and its twin lunged out and seized them, yanking them into the shadows before they could even scream.

Mumkhar and the others had been trying to get a bead on Luigi again, but had been thrown off by the shower of junk sent into the air. Now, they were more preoccupied with what had made that monstrous sound. Mumkhar stepped up to the area he believed it had come from, but he only saw some hairs poking out from being a forklift, even with the night vision.

Before he could raise his gun, he heard a low growl, and gasped as he saw the forklift being actually lifted off the ground. He got a quick look at the silhouette of whatever was doing the deed, but all he could discern was that it was huge. Mumkhar Valek felt true fear for the first time in a long time, and decided not to find out what could do that. His goggles flying off, he turned around and ran off to the side, just in time to avoid the vehicle that came flying like a missile, bowling down several of his comrades. "Aborting mission!" he screamed into his radio, trying desperately not to sound like he'd wet his pants, "Martin's gone, there's something-"

"THAT IS THE TARGET!" roared Ocelot on the other end. He'd continued to observe the events as they unfolded, and now he was furious. They hadn't been able to get him before he'd transformed, **again.** There was only one chance they could take. "UNLOAD EVERYTHING! TAKE IT DOWN, NOW!"

The surviving soldiers obeyed, opening fire on the creature. Mumkhar even managed to snap out of his panic, unloading his entire gun into the thing. However, all that resulted was a clattering noise as the tranquilizers dropped off the thick skinned monstrosity. The soldiers made an attempt to reload their weapons, but it was all for nothing. The massive beast began slamming it's hands against the floor, pounding so hard it shook the whole building. The soldiers were knocked over onto their backs, unable to defend themselves as the creature came barreling towards them. The defenseless soldiers were quickly batted aside, flying into walls and other obstacles. Mumkhar only avoided the onslaught by sprinting up a staircase to one of the metal walkways.

The massive creature, apparently satisfied for now, stomped off towards one of the walls. Mumkhar, in a desperate attempt to regain some of his manliness, loaded live ammunition into his gun, firing directly at the back of the monster's head. The bullets proved to be as useless as the tranquilizers, bouncing off of the thick skin. All Mumkhar accomplished was causing the thing to turn to face him, and the growl it issued did not sound happy. Mumkhar's scream died in his throat as he finally got a look at what had just decimated his team.

It clearly wasn't human. In fact, this beast resembled a giant gorilla more than anything. Standing over eight feet tall, the majority of it's body was covered in brown fur, with bare patches on it's face, hands, chest, and feet. It's arms and legs were as thick as concrete pillars, and it's mouth was spread in a furious grimace, revealing pointed teeth. It's eyes, a deep brown color, stared Mumkhar down like a an annoying fly.

"LEAVE KONG ALONE!" roared the monster, seizing another forklift with one gigantic hand. Mumkhar squeaked in fear, diving off of the walkway, landing on his foot with a snap. Thankfully, that snap only came from some of his toes breaking. It was definitely preferable to the alternative, which involved the gorilla hurling the forklift towards Mumkhar's previous position, completely destroying the walkway. Metal bars and pipes flew everywhere, raining down on Mumkhar, who shielded his neck with both hands.

With some of his rage satiated for now, the Kong turned towards the wall, throwing one heavy punch into it, completely obliterating it. He proceeded through the now gigantic opening, and stomped out into the night, growling all the way.

All Mumkhar could do was stare in amazement.

* * *

 **Originally, Blonsky was gonna be played by Waluigi. You know, with the Luigi parallels. But I want these stories to be semi-serious, and it's really hard to take a story seriously when you've got Waluigi as your main antagonist. I ended up picking Mumkhar because he's a soldier type, he's jealous of the power other have, and he wants to claim it for himself.**

 **Luigi's last name is a reference to his current voice actor.**


	2. Chapter 2: To Make A Long Story Short

**Here's chapter 2. This is the first chapter where I change things up a little from the original movie. Mostly just the plot structure, nothing really huge. Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 2: To Make a Long Story Short

Mumkhar Valek was not in a very good mood. Having a simple mission interrupted by a giant gorilla monster that ravaged your entire team tends to do that to people. Even worse, his foot and head were both aching like hell, and he was being forced by protocol to give a report to Ocelot, albeit a brief one. He was tempted to tell the general to stick it where the sun don't shine, but he didn't want to find out how Ocelot would choose to interpret that.

"We had the bloke in our sights," reported the soldier, "We only lost track of him for a moment, but it was enough. And then that...thing...just appeared out of nowhere. Tore us apart. We couldn't even scratch it." He ran one hand through his greasy black hair, now even greasier with sweat from his previous activities.

Ocelot nodded, as though this were a routine post mission briefing. Which, in a way, it was. Ocelot sighed, hoping Martin wouldn't get too far away before they found him again. This endless chase was starting to cost more than it was worth. His superiors weren't exactly happy that he'd consistently failed to catch one guy. Every failure only served to aggravate everyone further, as a simple scientist should not have been able to evade the military might of the United States for this long. He wouldn't throw in the towel just yet, though. Martin couldn't get away every single time.

Ocelot turned to his one remaining soldier, who'd retrieved Luigi's bag from the scene, and was currently rifling through it in search of clues. "Anything useful?" he demanded.

The soldier shook his head. "Not so far, sir," he responded, "We'll have to pry open his computer just to be sure. Oh, and this." He held up the framed photo with Luigi and the brown haired woman.

Mumkhar, taking an interest in the photo, took it to examine it. "Some sort of contact for Martin's?" he asked, "Maybe a girlfriend he might be-"

The Brit was cut off by Ocelot snatching the photo out of his hand. "She," said the general, giving him the don't-you-dare-question-me-you-slime look, "Is of no consequence. He wouldn't contact her since his escape. He thinks it's better that way."

Mumkhar was willing to accept that explanation, but that didn't mean he was backing down. "So, are we ignoring the fact that a bloody giant gorilla, strong enough to throw a bloody forklift and smash through a bloody wall, came out of bloody nowhere to protect Martin?!" he snapped, "And now it's bloody out there, doing God knows what?!"

"First of all, cool it with the bloodys," retorted Ocelot, "We don't want to piss off our British readers. Second, King Kong won't be active for much longer today. He never is. He'll be Martin again before midday."

Mumkhar opened his mouth, most likely to try and cuss out his commanding officer as much as he could, but stopped as the full realization of the general's words hit him. "Martin didn't steal military secrets, did he?" he asked. Ocelot made no response, but that was as good as a yes. "What the bloody hell happened to him? How could that thing be Martin?"

Ocelot snorted. "That information's on a need-to-know basis, Valek. As in, you don't need to know," he replied, barely attempting to hide the condescension in his voice, "Now pack up. We've wasted enough time." He turned without another word, walking up the staircase to the balcony. Mumkhar would've loved to introduce the general's rear to his boot, but settled for punching the wall in frustration, hurting his hand, and issuing another stream of words that would up the rating of this story.

Ocelot stood on the balcony overlooking the small town, the picture from Luigi's bag grasped in his hand. Memories, so distant that they might as well have been from another life, drifted back to him, of Luigi and her gleefully walking off together, while Ocelot himself stood and watched. He loved her, and her happiness should have spread to him. However, he could never understand why she'd chosen the quiet genius who could be frightened into submission by the evil eye. It didn't matter, though. She was out of the equation. Martin himself had ensured that.

* * *

 **?**

Upon opening his eyes, Luigi immediately knew he wasn't dead, because of the hammering pain that penetrated every square inch of his body, along with the nausea. These were the side effects of the transformation, and he'd become well acquainted with them by now. To understand what Luigi was feeling, imagine your typical hangover, but while your trying to get over it, there's a guy in a clown suit banging on your skull with a golf club, and screaming bad puns into your ear with a megaphone. Okay, maybe not that bad, but you get the idea.

"Live life easy like Luigi, my ass," groaned the scientist, struggling to get to his feet. From what he could tell, Mr. Monkey had dragged him to the middle of nowhere again. He was lying on a thick rock next to a stream, and his surroundings consisted of nothing but trees and bushes. Birds chirped in the morning light, and the occasional insect zipped past his head. If it weren't for Luigi's present circumstances, he would've appreciated the natural beauty a bit more.

Having established that he had no idea where he was, Luigi decided to take stock. A quick look down revealed his pants had survived this incident, at least above the knees, for which he was eternally grateful. His pockets were empty, of course, but he'd crossed that bridge before. Sitting down on the rock, Luigi rested his pounding head in both hands as he tried to come up with his next move.

He couldn't go back to his job in Brazil. Aside from the fact that he'd probably been fired once the military came looking for him, they would easily find him again. Other than that, he could think of no other viable options. A voice in the back of his head spoke up, telling him to follow Evershade's advice, and go home, but he shot that idea down.

Luigi lazily turned his gaze into the stream beside him, but he nearly jumped when he saw his reflection. Instead of a half naked man, a massive, brown gorilla stared back at him, it's brown eyes boring into him. It's expression was one of irritation, as though Luigi were a gnat that refused to leave it alone. Luigi didn't need his monitor to tell him that his pulse was starting to rise again, as he could feel it throughout his body.

"No...no! Leave me alone!" cried the scientist in fear, before trying to spin around and flee. However, his soaking wet feet slipped up, causing him to fall face first into the dirt. His feet kicked out as he fell, knocking a stone into the river's image of the Kong with a large splash. Luigi turned back to his reflection in fear, only to see a perfectly normal representation of himself staring back. Relief flooded through him, and he inhaled as deep as he could, bringing his pulse back down to normal levels.

" _Now do you see why we've gotta go back?_ " chimed in the voice in his head. Luigi made no reply, and not just because he didn't want to look even crazier by talking to himself. He sat and thought, before finally standing and walking off through the woods. If the chance of a cure existed back home, he had no choice.

A few minutes of wandering through the trees eventually led Luigi to the road. For once, his timing was impeccable, as he reached it right as a truck, carrying a massive pile of green and red turtle shells, was coming in his direction. Luigi immediately waved his hands in the air, and the truck cruised to a stop. Luigi scurried up to the passenger seat window.

" _I get ride? Please?_ " he asked in Portuguese.

The driver, a short humanoid creature with a mushroom on top of his head, blinked at him in confusion. " _I'm sorry, I don't speak Portuguese,_ " he answered in Spanish.

Luigi's eyes widened. How far had the monkey managed to wander in one night? _"My bad. Where am I?_ " he asked, switching to Spanish. Thankfully, he was more proficient in this language.

" _Just outside of Guatemala,_ " responded the toad.

Luigi breathed a massive sigh of relief. Gorilla face had actually been helpful! It was just a week, maybe two, of hitching rides to the States from here. " _Can I get a ride to the next town? Please?"_ he asked again.

" _Whatever,_ " responded the toad, throwing open the door. He handed Luigi a jacket, covering up the wet man's body, " _What the heck happened to you?_ "

" _Rough night,_ " said Luigi. There was the new understatement of the year. Mentally, he began to prepare himself for the journey ahead. It wouldn't be especially difficult to get to the States, but it would require time. He'd have to beg for money again, which he hated, but it was preferable to starving. Getting over the border meant hitching another ride, an especially long one. Luigi would survive, though. It wasn't like King Kong would let him die, anyway.

* * *

 **Patriots Military Base, Virginia, Several Days Later**

Ocelot slammed the door of the office behind him. "Bureaucrats," he snorted as he stormed down the hall. Of course they blamed him for this, instead of the man running away with the most powerful weapon the United States had ever produced. He might've been willing to accept that, but of course, they were more concerned with the damages the Kong had created. They continued to claim he should never have pursued the project in the first place. It frustrated him to no end. They needed the power Luigi had uncovered. He never understood why they couldn't grasp how Luigi was their highest priority.

"General!" called a growling voice from behind him. Ocelot turned to face Mumkhar, just as he'd expected. The soldier marched up to him, determination filling his eyes.

"What do ya want, Valek?" asked Ocelot, "If you wanted to drop out of the mission, you could've just sent me a note." He thought it was a fair assumption. Even the most hardened and experienced soldier would piss their pants when faced with the rage of the Kong.

"I'm staying on this bloody operation," snapped Mumkhar, "But I need to know the details. That thing slaughtered us, because we weren't prepared for it. Thanks for omitting those details, by the way."

"If I'd told you the details, you wouldn't have believed me," retorted Ocelot, "The goal was to get him without triggering the monkey, if you recall. We already know we can't outfight him."

"Oh, real brilliant," snapped Mumkhar, "Look, you want my experience, or not? What did Martin do to himself?"

Ocelot threw up his hands in defeat. Clearly this guy wasn't going to back off. He might as well know the truth. "This information is highly classified, so keep your trap shut," he began, "It went a little something like this..."

* * *

 **Five Years Ago, Woohoo Hooniversity Laboratory, Virginia**

"General Ocelot," said Luigi Martin, spreading his arms wide, "Our project manager pays us a visit. Welcome to the house of horrors."

"Not today, Martin," responded Ocelot, his gruff voice sounding angry for no reason, "Let's just get on with it."

Luigi's smile faded. So today evidently wasn't going to be the bonding day. He dropped his arms in defeat. "O-okay..."

"Come on, dad!" called a voice from across the lab. The general and the scientist turned to find a woman approaching them. She stood with average height and build, dressed in typical lab gear, with long brown hair hanging down her back. She marched up to Ocelot, glaring at him in a way none of his soldiers would dare to do. "You know Luigi's just trying to make small talk!"

Ocelot's tough stance fell. "Sorry, Daisy. It's...been a long week...I'll just wait outside." He walked out the door to the observation window. Try as he might, he could never really stand up to his daughter. She had just as much presence and commanding authority as he and her mother combined.

Daisy patted Luigi on the shoulder. "Why do you let him walk all over you?" she asked, "It's not like we need his approval."

Luigi sighed. "You know I let everybody do that to me," he muttered, "It's...I don't want to get in a fight." Luigi hated conflict of any kind, even casual disagreements, so much that he never raised his voice, even when insulted. His self-esteem wasn't in jeopardy, but he'd never really been able to stand up for himself. It still baffled him how Daisy had chosen him, dismissing all her father's concerns over the relationship. Ocelot didn't hate Luigi, as he had no reason to, and he knew Luigi's genius was a valuable asset to the military. He just didn't see Luigi as proper life-partner material, even if he did little to stop the relationship.

Daisy hugged him. "Screw him, he's a politician who thinks he's still a soldier," she cheerfully replied, "Now knock his socks off." Luigi's smile returned as she walked into the observation room. If he was gonna prove himself, this was the place to do it.

He walked to the middle of the laboratory for maximum dramatic effect. On his right side was a large, white chair with a strange looking black device hanging down by one metal arm. It would be sitting in front of a person's face if they sat in the chair. Luigi turned to the observation window, where Daisy and Ocelot stood, along with a few other generals and military scientists. He cleared his throat.

"Radiation," he began, "Sometimes a threat, sometimes our only chance of surviving a deadly illness. Unfortunately, in everyday life, it's usually the former. Today, that comes to an end." He held up a large syringe, filled with a green, transparent liquid. "With the combination of this prepared serum, as well as a high, nearly lethal dose of gamma rays, I will make myself resistant to all of radiation's ill effects."

Daisy smiled nervously. She was a little hesitant to let Luigi test this on himself, considering the risks to his health. They both held multiple doctorates, and knew very well what could happen to him. However, the simulations they had performed earlier had been extremely positive, and the chances of accidents, injury, death, or irreparable and grotesque mutilation were unlikely. " _And maybe it'll finally get somebody to appreciate him,_ " she thought, shooting a glance at Ocelot.

Luigi rolled up his sleeve, wrapping a cuff around his arm to bring out the vein. Sticking the syringe needle into the vein, he gave a push, sending the green liquid into his body. It felt odd, first like he was injecting ice water, which suddenly rose to a warmer temperature, which spread quickly throughout his body. Taking a deep breath, Luigi turned to the controls in the observation room. "Mr. Sakurai," he called, "Would you kindly*?"

Sakurai obeyed, activating the shielding to ensure none of the gamma rays would get out of the room, and burn everybody's skin off. Luigi climbed into the chair, the black screen, the radiation emitter, directly in front of his face. He attached a pulse monitor to his finger, as well as several suction-tipped wires to his temples, in order to keep track of his vitals. In his mind, he mentally went over the process of this formula again to calm his nerves. It was simple. The serum would activate on exposure to the gamma rays, creating a radiation absorbing membrane over all of his cells, leaving him completely intact. "Nothing could go wrong," he told the sweat creeping down the back of his neck. Looking out the observation window, he gave Daisy a reassuring wink.

"Throw the switch," he ordered Sakurai. The man pressed the button. The emitter in front of Luigi's face lit up with a green light, slowly sliding across his entire body. Luigi's skin began to heat up as the radiation reached him, but he had expected this. He would be just fine.

That's when everything went to hell.

Luigi sharply gasped in pain as his insides began to bulge up. Over by the monitor, he could hear loud beeps as his pulse rate increased to unnatural levels. The serum and the radiation inside him began to react, penetrating every one of his cells. His muscles began to bubble as they expanded, stretching his clothes to their limits. He felt at though needles were forcing their way out from under his skin, when in reality it was hundreds of long brown hairs. His teeth began to sharpen, his bright blue eyes turned a deep brown color, and he could feel his entire body enlarging. The last things Luigi Martin saw in that moment were the shocked faces of Daisy and Ocelot on the other side of the window.

For the first time, the Kong roared.

* * *

 **Present Day**

Mumkhar just gaped at Ocelot. "That's it? He injected himself with some crap, stood in front of some rays, and now he's a giant monkey?" he asked.

"He's not actually a gorilla," said Ocelot, as though he were speaking with a complete moron, "He just looks like one because of all that hair. As far as we can figure, whatever was in the formula he tested reacted in someway with his particular DNA. Could be different for everyone." He turned around to walk down the hallway, but continued his story. "He destroyed most of the lab that day. My daughter, one of the techs, and I were the only survivors, and he still put all of us in the hospital. I tried to capture him right after that, but he thought ahead and ran off. He'd been on the run ever since."

"How'd you find the bloke in Brazil, anyway?" asked Mumkhar, "If he's managed to evade capture for five years, he's clearly good at it."

"Well..."

* * *

 **Brazil, Two Weeks Ago**

" _Hey, Luigi! Catch!_ "

The American turned at the sound of his name, just in time to catch an empty mushroom box to the face. It didn't hurt very badly, especially since he'd been training himself to resist pain, and he heard no beeping from his wrist monitor. However, the impact was still enough to smash his nose, sending dozens of tiny drops of blood all over the area. Luigi shoved the new box off to the side, frantically searching for the spots of red, wiping up any that he found, and removing any mushrooms with them.

The man who had thrown the box came over to his station. " _Sorry about that, man,"_ he said, _"I guess I threw it too hard."_ He noticed Luigi's search. _"Is something wrong?"_

 _"No,"_ responded the American, _"Just spilled a little blood from nose. Don't want people get sick from my blood."_

Unfortunately for poor Luigi, he didn't notice the tiny red dot on the nearest mushroom, already packed inside it's block, which he then sealed.

* * *

 **Present Day**

"We found a case of gamma radiation poisoning," answered Ocelot, "After ingesting a mushroom from the factory where Martin was working. Easy enough to trace back."

"So, what exactly was the original purpose of Martin's work?" asked Mumkhar, "I can tell the whole 'radiation immunity' thing was a cover up."

"Have you heard of Project: Evolution?" said Ocelot, "It was an series of experiments meant to advance human soldiers to the greatest level of physical perfection that was possible to be attained. Unfortunately, the little 'Super-Soldier' lab hasn't had any successes since WWII with...well, you know. I unearthed the project recently. Martin's work was intended to cover the radiation aspect of the original formula, since we couldn't figure out how to do it without killing the subject. He didn't have any idea what he was part of, but he created something far superior, completely by accident."

" _Riiiiiiight..._ " thought Mumkhar. Out loud, he responded "So how are you gonna catch him? No living creature can stand up to that thing."

Ocelot looked at Mumkhar, deep in thought. An idea suddenly sprung into his mind. "Valek, you're pushing forty, right?"

Mumkhar's face shifted into an extremely irritated grimace at the sound of those words.

"I'll take that as a yes. Still serving in the field at your age?"

"You have no bloody idea," said Mukhar, "I'm better than half the rats they give guns these days. If my body were younger, I could tear 'em all a new one by myself."

Ocelot smiled. That was almost too easy. "What if I told you Martin wasn't the only one working on the project. We did create one formula that looks promising, but haven't had a chance to test it..."

Mumkar's frown faded, replaced by a grin of almost insane delight. "If you're suggesting what I think you are, I'm in."

* * *

 **Woohoo Hooniversity**

Ah, the old campus. Luigi sat on the bench looking over the university, a green baseball cap pulled over his face, and his nose buried in a newspaper. It was unlikely any of these people would recognize him, but he'd learned a long time ago not to take chances. Thankfully, the students either didn't care about random hobos hanging around, or they were too engrossed in their games of Ultimate Frisbee. Seriously, how did that catch on?

It had taken time, effort, and a lot of bribing, stealing, and even sitting on the street corner asking for money, but Luigi had finally made it home. Some of the buildings had clearly been remodeled, but the campus was still the same. Even the air tasted the same, in a way Luigi didn't know how to put into words. If he weren't still a fugitive, he would almost feel relaxed.

He knew he was taking a huge risk by even being within the same square mile as the campus. It was probably one of the places they kept a constant sentry on the lookout for him. However, this was only place where records of the experiment still existed, or at least he hoped. If there was any chance of Evershade curing him, he had no choice but to return. Maybe he'd get lucky, and Ocelot would think he'd never want to see this place again. Then again, probably not.

After sitting for a few minutes, he pretended to check the watch he'd pilfered off some loser, as though it were time for him to return to class. He got up and entered into the front door of the biology build he'd used to work in. He did his best to appear inconspicuous, as he was unsure if anyone who remembered him still worked in the university. Thankfully, everybody's attention seemed to be directed towards another man wandering across the halls, singing "Let's go say hi to Senpai! Oh, Senpai, where are you!? I'm coming for you Senpai, don't you be afraid of me!" The man was then tackled by half a dozen security guards.

Unfortunately for poor Luigi, he was forced to stop dead in his tracks as he tried to make his way to the computers. A security guard now stood by the entrance to the laboratories, checking every visitor, and they required some form of identification to get through. Luigi sighed and turned around, exiting the building.

So he'd hit a bump in the road. He wasn't going to give up, not when he'd made it all the way here. He'd just have to think of another way to get in. Luigi was no cat burglar, but he'd broken into places before. Then again, maybe there was a way to reach the database without adding breaking and entering to the crimes he'd committed.

Luigi was just about to leave the campus, when he noticed the list of staff members outside the building. He only gave it a sideways glance, but it was enough for him to catch the name Daisy Ocelot on the microbiology department, still working in the same place after half a decade. Just the sight of her name was enough to freeze Luigi again.

He began to mentally wage war with himself yet again. " _There's no way we can see her,_ " screamed his brain, " _It's too risky. Forget about her and focus on the mission._ " However, his soul forced the logical organ to shut up. He couldn't talk to her, but he had to see her, if only just for a moment. It had been five years. Nothing more than a glimpse would save his life.

Luigi cautiously took a spot under a nearby tree. His heart thumped in his chest, and he had to take several deep breaths to calm down. Transforming now would be the worst kind of disaster. He waited, desperately pretending to read the newspaper, keeping one eye on the building. He was just about to leave and spare himself further pain, when she came out the front door.

Daisy was just as beautiful as he remembered. Her auburn hair hung at the same shoulder length she'd always loved, and her eyes still held the purest joy he'd ever seen. She walked down the front steps of the biology building, the familiar spring in her step sending a fresh stream of memories to Luigi's mind. His heart boiled over with emotion, and he was within seconds of charging towards her and throwing away his chances of survival, when something paralyzed him where he stood.

A man walked up to Daisy, smiling and showing off his pure white teeth, and Daisy responded in kind. She reached up and ran a hand through his blond hair, which seemed to send a sparkle over the entire area they stood in. She kissed his cheek, and the two walked off, hand in hand.

Luigi tried to come move, or do anything, but his body would not respond to his brain's commands. His heart felt pinned under a massive pile of rubble, unable to move or breath. Part of him wanted to rush over to them, and try to make her see sense, while another part only desired to smash everything within reach. The only thing preventing the second part from taking control was the threat of turning into a giant gorilla monster in front of hundreds of people.

Finally, his brain stepped in. " _She's happy,_ " it insisted, " _She's moved on. She can't be with you. Don't you love her enough to let her have a life of her own?_ "

Luigi didn't answer himself. Finally, he turned around and left the campus, banishing thoughts of Daisy Ocelot from his mind.

* * *

 ***Yes, I did that on purpose.**


	3. Chapter 3: Reunion, and Turnabout

**I'm sorry this took so long. At times like this, it's tempting to blame the real world for getting in the way, and I did have a lot of midterm crap to get through, but that's not completely honest. It was more a combination of writer's block, and lack of motivation. Anyway, here's the chapter, enjoy.**

 **Also, if you celebrate it, Happy Thanksgiving.**

* * *

Chapter 3: Reunion, and Turnabout

Professor Frankly's Pizza was a popular after class location for the students and professors of Woohoo Hooniversity. Unlike a certain "other" pizzeria, it wasn't haunted by murdered children or filthy, and the pizza didn't taste like cardboard. Frankly himself, a short, mushroom-like creature referred to as a Goomba, and a former teacher as his restaurant name suggested, was always happy to have them, and formed close friendships with repeat customers. Sure, people were weirded out over the fact that he had constant dizzy spirals on his eyes, but he was nice enough. He lived in a small apartment above the restaurant, meaning he was never late to open the shop.

At the moment, Frankly was currently closing up shop for the night. "G'night, you crazy kids!" he called after the departing couple. He then turned the sign to the "closed" side, and set about locking the door, which is actually a pretty impressive feat for a guy with no arms.

A knock on the door distracted him from his task. Frankly politely indicated with sign without looking up. It wasn't anything new to him. There was always some high college kid who got the munchies really late at night. He used to let them in, but had learned just how much of a bad idea that was from previous experiences.

The knocker didn't seem to care, as he or she rapped on the glass again. Mildly annoyed, Frankly looked up to dispense a piece of his mind to the persistent kid, but stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing who it was. Luigi Martin stood outside his door, waving and smiling his same old smile. He'd aged a bit, and looked more ragged than he used to, as well as completely exhausted, but it was the genuine Luigi, no doubt.

Frankly hurriedly began to unlock and open the door again. "Lu?" he asked, unable to keep the shock out of his voice, "You haven't been around here for five years, man! I missed ya!"

Luigi walked into the pizzeria. "Hey, Frankly," he said, "Sorry for dropping by unannounced, but I didn't have access to a phone." After much consideration, he'd concluded this was the best place for him to go, as much of a risk as it was. He could be traced if he checked into a motel, and he hoped he could get away without sleeping on the street again.

"It's not a big deal, trust me," said Frankly, "Pizza? I got some leftover slices." Luigi nodded eagerly. He hadn't had any food since he swiped some poor sap's fast food breakfast, and he could never say no to Frankly's cooking. Not to mention he probably burned a lot of calories while moonlighting as a giant, rampaging gorilla.

Frankly watched as the scientist devoured his pizza like a hungry wolf. "Some things really don't change, do they?" he chuckled.

Luigi smiled a genuinely happy smile for the first time in a while. "Nope," he agreed, with his mouth full. He swallowed. "I take it you've know why I've been gone?"

Frankly snorted. "All that crap about you stealing military secrets? I never believed it." He wanted to ask Luigi for the truth, but decided to respect his friends' privacy.

Luigi smiled. At least there were some people left that hadn't turned against him.

"So," Frankly continued, bracing himself to ask the question he was really reluctant to, "Have you seen Daisy?"

Luigi's smile faded, and he looked down at his plate. "Yeah..." he answered finally, "I can't let her know I'm here, though. Who's she seeing?" He wondered why he'd even bothered to ask that question. It wasn't like he and Daisy would ever meet again. Her new boyfriend's identity shouldn't mean a thing to him. Not to mention how much it would upset him.

"His name's Peasley," said Frankly, "Apparently, he used to be a soldier. A bit arrogant, but he's an okay guy overall." He immediately regretted that last sentence. Like making Luigi feel any worse was something a friend would do.

Luigi took it in stride, however. If she was with a good guy, at least she was happy. He felt the weight of his worry for Daisy lift off of his shoulders. The pain of missing her still pushed down on his heart, but he could work on that. At least he hoped he could.

"Listen, Frankly," he started, changing the subject, "I don't want to get you in trouble or anything-"

"You can stay for as long as you need," said the Goomba, "Believe me, you're worth it."

Luigi's smile lit up once more. "Thank you," was all he could say. It astounded him as to how people were willing to give so much to a person like him. The feeling that, to someone, he was special enough to risk going to prison for, was enough to relieve the stress of the Kong and all it carried.

Luigi's euphoria was interrupted by a sudden idea. "Hey, now that I think about it, there's one other thing..."

* * *

Out of all of the odd jobs Luigi had worked over the past five years, delivery boy had never been one of them, which, all things considered, was highly unusual. Yet, here he was, riding his bike down the path, through the crowd of Woohoo Hooniversity staff and students, with several pizza boxes on the back. It wouldn't have been so bad, if he didn't have to wear the stupid dizzy spiral glasses until he got there. This was more humiliating than being cast as Neville Longbottom in a Harry Potter parody.*

He checked his watch again, just to make sure he wouldn't run into Daisy. He knew her well enough to know she hated teaching any classes after three-thirty, especially on a Friday, like today. Fortunately, as he already knew, he had planned this trip correctly, and would not encounter his ex. He had enough as his plate without throwing that wrench into his menagerie of problems.

He parked his bike outside the entrance to the biology building, carrying his pizza boxes up to the security desk. Now for the ultimate test. "Hey, I got a delivery, for upstairs," he told the guard, "In the staff room, I think."

The guard, wearing a purple uniform and intensely staring at the security camera feed through his monitor, gave a squeak of surprise, grabbing a cartoon bear mask from under the table and cramming it onto his head, covering his eyes as well. Luigi stared at him in surprise for a few seconds, before the man opened his eyes, breathed a sigh of relief, and pulled the mask off.

"Sorry," he said, sheepishly, "I thought you were a...killer robot..."

"Wait a minute," said Luigi, "Did we seriously make two Five Nights at Freddy's references in this chapter already? Is that even relevant anymore?"

The guard shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just following the script."

"Unbelievable," groaned Luigi, taking out the cell phone he wasn't supposed to have in this story. He made a quick call, putting out a hit on the author, before returning to the story.

"Anyway," said the guard, "I'm sorry, but orders are to only admit authorized personnel."

"Aw, damn," sighed Luigi, "My boss is gonna bust my ass if I don't get the cash for this." He pretended to think for a moment, then grabbed one of the pizza boxes. "Look, I got an extra medium mushroom. You take this, no charge. What do you say?"

The guard looked like he was about to object, but as soon as Luigi opened the box, he was immediately hypnotized by the smell of fresh cheese and tomato sauce, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to get as much of the scent in as possible. Luigi smirked. This was almost too easy.

The guard grabbed the pizza box. "This never happened," he told the mustached man, seizing the delectable food.

"You're a smart man," answered Luigi, taking off down the hall. Mentally, he began to wonder why he didn't bribe people more often. It worked well enough.

As he reached the higher levels of the laboratory, he took a brief moment to look at the radiology lab, particularly the sight of his "incident." He glanced in the window, and was glad to see that the damage he had wrought had at least been repaired. Inside stood a bunch of scientists, none of whom he recognized, working away at some project. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to rise, as memories of that day began to surface, before he shot them down. Flashbacks would be most unwelcome at this time.

Eventually, Luigi made it to the old computer labs, paying off the lone tech with his last pizza. Smiling at the man from across the room, Luigi popped open the login window for the university staff. Praying she hadn't changed it after all this time, Luigi entered Daisy's name and password. After a few seconds of loading, he was granted access to the university archives. Luigi briefly allowed a triumphant grin to cross his face, but shut it down just as quickly.

Opening a new search, Luigi typed in the name of the project he'd worked on: Wave Shield. He was greeted with his worst nightmare as a result: Data not found. Trying not to panic, Luigi went back to the search engine, punching in his own name. Again, the results turned up negative.

Luigi started to hyperventilate, the pulse monitor on his wrist beginning to beep again. Willing himself to calm down, he took several deep breaths, bringing his heart rate down. If he transformed here, there was no telling how many people he'd kill. He quietly installed the encryptor program onto the new computer, opening up the messenger and contacting Evershade.

"I'VE GOT NEWS," he wrote.

"EXCELLENT, FELLER!" responded his contact, "HAVE YOU FOUND ALL THE DATA?"

Luigi was unable to type for a few moments, as though not acknowledging the failure would somehow erase it from existence. "IT'S BEEN DELETED," he finally typed.

There was no response for a few seconds, and he eventually saw "I CAN'T FINISH THE CURE WITHOUT IT, FELLER."

Luigi sighed, resting his head in both hands. He'd come so far, taken so many gigantic risks, only to find nothing yet again. For a moment, he was tempted to surrender to despair, transform right now, and joy be the consequences but that thought only lasted for a few seconds. After mentally smacking himself around for even considering giving up, he returned both hands to the keyboard.

"I NEED TO MOVE ON FROM HERE. FIND SOMETHING ELSE. I'LL CONTACT YOU WHEN I HAVE THE CHANCE," he typed, then ended the conversation.

* * *

Back at Frankly's restaurant slash house, Luigi silently packed what little he had. Frankly was currently managing the last few customers of the day before the place closed, and Luigi had decided it would be better to just slip out the backdoor, with a note left behind on his bed. He hated to run off without saying anything, face to face but he believed his friend would understand. Besides, it would be more advantageous to slip away under cover of the night. Slinging his duffle bag over his shoulder, he went downstairs to the lobby, approaching the backdoor.

What he saw in the lobby froze him in his tracks.

Frankly was busy at the counter, serving up a handful of pizza to the final two customers. What stopped Luigi was the fact that they were Daisy and Peasley, sitting together and laughing as they ate. Peasley himself was about Luigi's height, with long, flowing blond hair, and a really pretentious looking white suit. Occasionally, he flicked his hair with one hand, causing it to sparkle so brightly it lit up the entire room. Daisy herself was dressed in her favorite yellow shirt, and chuckled at something Peasley said.

"And then I told him, clean that up, before I strike you about the head! Hah hah hah!" Peasley chuckled, flipping his hair again. Daisy laughed, though this one seemed obviously forced.

Luigi kicked himself for forgetting that she'd always loved this place, and Friday nights were her favorite. He decided to try and tiptoe out the door without making a sound, praying they wouldn't look in his direction.

Naturally, he stepped on the one creaky floorboard in the entire building.

Daisy curiously turned her gaze to the sound of the creaking, and froze where she sat. Luigi swore, trying to think of some way to get out of this, before he settled on sprinting out the back door as fast as his legs could carry him.

* * *

Daisy's brain tried to process what she was seeing, and came up blank. She'd convinced herself several years ago that he had died, and she had no chance of seeing him again. Alive, at least. She'd tried to move on with her life, but still thought about him, feeling memories of him surface every now and then. Part of her wondered if what she saw now was nothing more than a hallucination, but she had to know for sure.

She rose from her seat, ignoring all of Peasley's questions. Her legs carried her at full speed to the door, ignoring the pain caused by her high heels. She rushed outside after Luigi, right into the now pouring rain. She glanced both ways, but Luigi was nowhere in sight. Peasley followed after her.

"Luigi..." she whispered, as though the empty alley would answer her.

"Daisy, what on Earth's the matter?" he asked, reaching for her hand.

Daisy didn't even hear him, turning around and running back into the restaurant. Frankly sat at the table, having seen everything.

"Daisy, I..." he started, but found he had no words.

"Please..." she pleaded, "Just tell me what that was. Was that...?"

Frankly's silence was all she needed.

* * *

Luigi felt as though he were dragging himself against the strongest current on earth. The rain poured harder and harder, soaking through all of his clothes, but he barely noticed. Mentally, he had no thoughts, feeling only emptiness at the events that had occurred a few minutes ago. He felt nothing, and cared about nothing. Even the possibility of turning into a giant gorilla monster at a moment's notice didn't arouse any emotion inside him.

He held his thumb out to a passing car, hoping this was another person who wasn't against hitchhiking. These hopes were quickly dashed as the car rushed past him, spraying him with water from the gutter. Sighing in defeat, Luigi held up his thumb once again as he kept walking, on the off chance that the next driver was a little more considerate.

However, the next car proved to be quite a shocker for the scientist, as it pulled up right next to him, and the driver's side door swung open. The driver's footsteps could be heard dashing around the stationary vehicle, and soon Luigi was face to face with Daisy Ocelot for the first time in years.

Luigi's froze where he stood. His brain ordered his legs to turn around and run once again, but his body refused to obey. He couldn't even breathe. Luigi Martin was no stranger to his own silence, as he was a quiet man who never spoke unless he felt it was necessary. However, this was the first time he truly could not make himself say anything.

Daisy was the one to free them from the deafening quiet. "Please..." she begged, stepping closer and reaching forward hesitantly, as though she feared Luigi would fade into dust if she touched him, "I don't want you to go away...please..."

Luigi couldn't stop himself. He rushed forward and threw his arms around her, causing her to respond in kind. As they stood in the pounding rain, wrapped around each other, he finally spoke two words.

"I'm sorry."

* * *

The drive back to Daisy's house was even more unnervingly quiet. Neither passenger could think of anything to say, even after all this time. Luigi stayed ducked down under the window, so as to avoid being spotted. Paranoid, sure, but it paid off more often than not. Once they pulled into Daisy's garage, he was finally free to sit up. Passing into the living room, Daisy made their favorite tea, so they'd have something to do in case of more silence.

Luigi had regained some of his composure, and was now able to speak in whole sentences once more. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you when I ran off," he said, quietly, "You were still unconscious in the hospital, and Ocelot wouldn't let me anywhere near you."

Daisy nodded. "Dad wouldn't tell me a thing about the incident, or the project, or what happened to you," she replied, "I barely remember anything, except you turning into a giant gorilla...thing. I went to him so many times, and all he would say was that you were dead. Eventually, I just stopped talking to him. After so much time, I decided maybe he'd been telling the truth." Remorse covered her face. "I never should've believed anything he said."

Luigi hung his head as he sipped his tea. "Maybe it'd be better if I had died," he grunted. Upon Daisy's look of confusion, he continued, "Every time my pulse rate goes above two-hundred, I change back. The thing rampages for a while, then I become me again."

Daisy looked shocked. "But...why does dad want you? Does he think you're too dangerous to live?"

"Worse," said Luigi, gravely, "The project had nothing to do with radiation resistance, it was another super soldier experiment. That serum was altered without us knowing it. He told me in person that he wants an army of those things at the beck and call of the United States."

Daisy swallowed nervously. She'd been suspicious of her father's intentions for the past five years, but this was far worse than she'd expected. As often as they'd butted heads, she'd believed her father was a good and kind man who wanted to serve and protect his country. This was insane, not to mention cruel. Trying not to think about it, she decided to change the subject.

"Do you...remember it? When you change back?"

"Flashes of it," said Luigi, "Images, sounds. Nothing concrete." He laid his empty cup down on the coffee table. "I've spent the last several years looking for cures. I've got a contact up north who thinks he could do something, but not without the data from the initial experiment."

Daisy was quiet for a moment, before she walked over to the shelf, where a small, wooden box sat. Opening it an reaching inside, she pulled out a small, black flash drive, and handed it to Luigi. "It's all on there," she said, "I pulled it all before Dad could have it cleared. I...wanted to have some record. I couldn't let him erase it off the face of the Earth like it never happened."

Internally, Luigi's mind was suddenly filled with a burst of hope. The data wasn't gone, after all. If he could get this to Evershade, they could finish the antidote. Maybe he could finally cure himself. Maybe this nightmare could be over. Then the rational part of his brain chimed in, reminding him that the cure might not even work, and he couldn't afford to be this optimistic. However, this time, Luigi didn't care. He had a chance. Of course, the first step was to actually get there.

"Listen," he reluctantly started, "I'd better get outta here by morning. It's not safe for me to stay in one place. Especially around here."

Daisy's face suddenly took on notable disappointment. "Okay," she said in a voice barely above a whisper, "I've got a spare bedroom. You don't have to sleep on the couch."

Luigi nodded, unable to find the words. She had to know that this tore him apart just as much as it did her. He hated to leave her again, especially after getting back to her for the first time in half a decade. His rational brain was strong enough to overpower any argument he could come up with at this moment, unfortunately for him. Ocelot and that greasy-haired weirdo were still searching for him, and Ocelot wouldn't hesitate to throw his own daughter in prison if she were caught helping him.

"Thanks," he eventually said, quietly. He couldn't bring himself to say anything else.

* * *

Neither Luigi nor Daisy was able to sleep well that night. Luigi had enjoyed a hot bath and a fresh set of clothes for the first time in a while not to mention the cushy bed. However, the day's events weighed heavily on him. He'd promised himself he'd never go near Daisy again, if only to ensure her safety. Yet, here he was, following her into her home, staying there, talking to her, almost as though the accident had never happened, and he wasn't a ticking time bomb that could kill her at any second.

" _It's only for tonight,_ " Luigi reminded his brain, but his rational side would have none of it.

Daisy fared no better. In the past few hours, her world seemed to have turned completely on it's head. Luigi was, in fact, alive, but horribly mutated as a result of the experiment, and her own father wanted nothing more than to capture and exploit him. Even worse, Luigi couldn't stay with her, and she would lose him again so soon. Her mind kept her awake, desperately trying to find a path through the chaos, but failing miserably. For the first time in a long time, Daisy Ocelot was terrified, and not for her own life.

* * *

 **Patriots Military Base, Medical Ward**

Mumkhar Valek shoved open the door to the exam room he'd been directed to. Inside, he discovered General Ocelot, looking annoyed as per usual. Two technicians were busy preparing the equipment for the injection procedure, which he couldn't see, with the exception of a metal flask that read "Project Evolution. Oak, Dr. S." Pulling off the top of the flask revealed a vial of a white, milky liquid he didn't recognize. In the middle of the room sat one of those stretchers that could strap someone down, then flip them over. Seeing that his skin would be exposed if he were positioned on it, Mumkhar silently removed his shirt. He cared little for modesty, anyway.

"Here's how this is going to go," said Ocelot, his voice carrying the same tone as when he gave orders, "You will receive the lowest functioning dose. At the first sign of any side effects, you will be pulled out of this operation, and sent to isolation until it wears off. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," said Mumkhar, mildly annoyed. However, his opinion of Ocelot was of no consequence now. All that mattered was whether or not the serum worked.

Having finished the preparations, the technicians turned to Mumkhar. "There will be two specific injection sites," he explained, producing a syringe gun with a thin needle, "The deep muscles, and the bone marrow centers." He grinned, causing all the hairs on Mumkhar's neck to stand on end, before continuing, "In your spine."

Mumkhar shivered, but he tried not to let it show, especially in front of Ocelot. The general in question rolled his eyes. "Get on with it," he grunted.

Mumkhar sat down on the exam table. The technicians, each armed with a large syringe gun, stood on either side of him, filling up the fluid capsules on each apparatus. They placed both needles on each side of his neck, causing Mumkhar to clench his teeth in pain, as cold steel pushed through his flesh. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the needles went further and further in, eventually coming to a stop. Both triggers were pulled, releasing the serum into Mumkhar's body. Both needles were pulled out, and Mumkhar released the breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

"That...wasn't so bad," he thought. He nearly said it out loud, but Ocelot's ever watchful eyes convinced him to stay silent. He got on the stretcher, where he was immediately strapped down by the technicians. As is quietly waited, he observed them replacing the needles on the syringe on with much longer ones, which nearly matched the length of his forearm. It was getting harder and harder not to show any fear, as sweat dripped down the back of his neck. One of the technicians thankfully remembered to flip him over at this point, so they had a clear view of his back.

This time, Mumkhar consciously held his breath as the technicians prepared the syringe gun. At the same time, they also marked the placed on his spine where the injections needed to go. The pattern consisted of three columns, with three points in each column, down the middle of his back. Positioning the needle at an angle, so as not to drive it through his organs, they placed the tip at the first point, and pushed.

Mumkhar bit his tongue to block out the blood-curdling scream that threatened to escape from his mouth. The pain was comparable to a knife wound to his stomach, something he'd experienced before. The cold of the metal permeated his entire body, leaving him shaking as the injections progressed. The pain was so severe, Mumkhar failed to notice the swelling surge of strength that began to flow through him. His muscles bulged, increasing ever so slightly in size, and his bones tightened, growing stronger and stronger. Ocelot continued to observe, replacing his trademark scowl with an unsettling grin.

* * *

 ***Mario Mario and the Bottle of Lightning. You're welcome, gamer4.**


	4. Chapter 4: Not an Everyday College Brawl

**I have no excuses. Just enjoy the story.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Not Your Everyday College Brawl

Luigi didn't feel comfortable getting out of bed, or even getting dressed the next morning. Considering he'd barely managed to sleep at all due to the worries of the previous night, this didn't surprise him. In addition, after this departure, Daisy wouldn't just decide he was dead, and would constantly fear for his welfare. If he was captured, Ocelot would almost certainly keep it out of the media, so she would never know his fate for certain. Sometimes, Luigi wondered whether the constant conflict in his brain was worse than the effects of the Kong mutation. These mental ramblings were few and far between, of course.

As he brushed his teeth at the sink, he casually glanced into the mirror, and nearly fell on his back in shock. His reflection had once again been replaced by the Kong, whose eyes bore into Luigi's soul, not even attempting to disguise the primal fury contained within. Luigi was tempted to smash the mirror in panic, but restrained himself.

"What do you want?" he asked, trying to keep his trembling voice calm, "You've done enough damage to my life. What more could you want?!" His pulse quickened its pace, signaled by the frantic beeping of his wrist monitor, but this was more out of fear than anger.

For the first few seconds, the Kong didn't respond, and simply continued to stare down the human whose body he shared, grinding his teeth in fury. Finally, the hairy creature began to speak, his voice low and gravely in Luigi's mind.

" _Kong...want...out..._ " he snarled.

"NO!" Luigi almost screamed, frantically turning the faucet back on and dousing himself with all the water he could fit in both hands. When he faced the mirror once more, the Kong was gone, replaced by the reflection of Luigi's wet face. He breathed a sigh of relief as his pulse returned to normal level, leaning on the sink for support.

"Luigi?" he heard Daisy call. Luigi turned around to see the woman standing at the door, having only just gotten out of bed. "You okay?"

"Yeah...yeah," he responded, unable to share his terror. Daisy stared at him for a long time, clearly not believing him, and eventually left Luigi to his business.

* * *

Though she knew there was no way to make Luigi remain in town any longer, Daisy convinced him to let her tag along to the train station. Luigi knew it would only increase the difficulty in saying good-bye, but hadn't been able to coax himself to say no. The part of him that still longed for Daisy had vetoed any objections he might've had, begging to see her for those precious few minutes. Besides, the more he pushed her away, the greater the likelihood of her pursuing him, discarding her life like a used napkin.

So it came to be that the former couple walked along the outside of Woohoo Hooniversity, attempting to squeeze out as much time together as possible. Luigi had his usual green baseball cap pulled over his head, in an attempt to cover his face, and wore some old clothes Daisy had never gotten around to returning to him. The flash drive containing the records of the experiment was stored securely in his duffel bag, which was totally not a man purse. They avoided holding hands to prevent unwanted attention, even though it hurt both of them.

As they walked, Luigi kept glancing around, looking at every dark corner on both sides of the street. Daisy turned to him. "Force of habit, huh?" she guessed.

Luigi nodded. "Saved my hide more times than I have fingers," he answered, "Lets me catch on just fast enough to dodge tranquilizers from soldiers who have no idea what they've gotten into."

Daisy laughed. "I think it's toughened you up. In the old days, you would've thrown up your hands in defeat at the first sign of a targeting laser." This was not an uncommon topic in the early days of their relationship. Luigi may have been timid and had trouble standing up for himself, but he and Daisy had enjoyed many hours of laughter at his expense. Miraculously, it never bothered him. Probably because she was one of the few people he felt truly comfortable around.

Luigi chuckled along with her, but a casual glance at Daisy froze him in mid-laugh. Over her shoulder, he had a clear view of the entryway to the university library building, complete with several stone columns connected to the overhang. Behind one of the columns, he saw a man dressed in black combat gear, crouching down and staring directly at them. Bits and pieces of others were visible, poking out from hiding places, armed with long, nasty-looking rifles.

"Son of a..." he breathed. How had they tracked him here?

"What? What's wrong-" Daisy tried to ask, before Luigi cut her off, grabbing her by the shoulder.

"Listen to me, no matter what!" he ordered her, covering her mouth so she couldn't object, "Get away from me! Run as far as possible! NOW!"

Luigi released his grip on Daisy, and took off like a bullet across the campus lawn. Not a moment too soon, as it turned out, because several heavily armored military cars, nearly tank-like, came zooming up to the university, shoving the ones parked near the sidewalk away like paperweights. Daisy, realization dawning on her, began running as well, but towards the largest vehicle, which seemed to be the leader, instead of away.

Her instincts were correct, as Ocelot himself sat shotgun in the aforementioned vehicle, his eyes following Luigi through the video feed. "Do not lose him!" he barked into his radio, "Where are the damn snipers?!"

"They didn't get into position in time, sir!" came Mumkhar's reply. Ocelot calmed himself. Sure, they'd yet again missed their chance to simply shoot a tranquilizer into his butt and call it a day, but Mumkhar's new capabilities wouldn't fail them. In addition, if King Kong did show up, they were prepared this time.

Luigi, knowing that the soldiers would try to surround and overwhelm him, decided to rush for the nearby wooded area. The trucks couldn't race after him in there, and the dense trees would give him at least some cover from anything they shot at him.

Unfortunately for poor Luigi, Ocelot had anticipated this move. No sooner had the scientist started sprinting for the trees that Mumkhar came tearing out onto the lawn, running as hard as he could directly at Luigi. Swearing, Luigi turned and made another mad dash towards the library, with a battalion of soldiers hot on his tail.

Mumkhar, feeling the super soldier serum coursing through his veins, kept up the pursuit, accelerating after Luigi. As he did so, he found himself outpacing all of the other soldiers, many of whom were younger and more fit than he. Mumkhar grinned with delight, reveling in power he'd never been able to obtain in his prime. He readied himself to seize Martin-

"Valek! Hold! Block him in!" roared Ocelot through the radio. He knew Mumkhar could easily catch up with Luigi, but if he tried to tackle the scientist, he risked unleashing the Kong, something Ocelot had no desire to do unless absolutely necessary. Plus, if that happened while Mumkhar was in such close proximity, the British man would definitely be ripped in half, and bye-bye valuable asset.

Mumkhar reluctantly slowed down, allowing the rest of his comrades to catch up to him. While he wanted to demonstrate his new abilities to their fullest extent, he know that disobeying an order would result in their removal. The pride of catching Martin wasn't worth sacrificing his perfection. "Keep after the little runt," he ordered. The remaining soldiers obeyed.

Luigi rammed his shoulder into the library door, desperately trying to take deep breaths and calm himself as he rushed into the building. The soldiers followed close behind, never losing sight of Luigi. Mentally, he began to try and map out an escape path. It was the middle of the day this time, and there weren't any gigantic crowds he could try to lose these guys in. His only chance was to try and use the clutter of the library to throw them off his trail, then slip out another exit while they were distracted.

Dashing straight into the rows of massive shelves, he jumped over the college students as they innocently searched for books, giving them a bit of a shock in the process. However, that was nothing compared to the shock that they experienced when the armed soldiers slammed right into them, causing a human pile-up. Luigi allowed himself one smug smirk. That ought to buy him a few seconds.

Ducking behind a bookcase, Luigi tore open his duffle bag, feeling around for the flash drive. If he did end up transforming into the Kong, he couldn't risk losing what may very well be his last chance. Gulping nervously in anticipation of what he was about to do, Luigi crammed the flash drive into its protective casing, jammed the plastic stick into his mouth, and swallowed.

Feeling the object slide down his throat, he breathed a sigh of relief. Muttering a silent prayer that he wouldn't have to retrieve it from the toilet, he left his duffle bag on the floor, and tore off in another direction, heading for the stairs.

* * *

Daisy raced after the leading armored vehicle, stopping only to scoop up a rock. Her protective instincts had overridden any fear she had for her own life. In her mind, all that mattered was keeping Luigi safe from Ocelot. Getting up to the tank's side, Daisy hurled the stone with every ounce of strength in her body, watching as it pinged off the metal surface.

While it obviously didn't do any damage, it had the desired effect of getting the driver's attention, causing the metallic vehicle to come to a stop. Daisy took the opportunity to dash directly in front of the car, putting both of her hands into the air.

"Stop!" she yelled.

Ocelot saw this from inside the tank, of course, and it did nothing to lift his sour mood. He'd prayed that, if Martin had tried to reach out to her, she'd have the sense and fear to reject him. Now, the only thing standing between him and the weapon Martin had stolen from him was his own daughter.

"I know you're in there, you son of a bitch!" screamed Daisy, feeling her own fury rise. The vehicle was just sitting there, motionless, mocking her as though her father was turning away without a word, the same way he always did whenever she'd confronted him in her life. He had no right to be silent. Not after the pain he'd caused Luigi, her, and everyone else. "Come on, you coward! Face me!"

Ocelot clenched his fist in a combination of anger and sadness. Giving in, he opened the side door, rushing out to meet his daughter. Daisy's anger died down a bit, but she was still seething as she marched over to him, and gave him a roundhouse punch right in the face.

Ocelot stumbled back, clutching his cheek where she'd socked him. He'd been expecting that, in reality. It wasn't the first time the two had come to physical blows. However, that didn't lessen the pain. Daisy had a heck of a punching arm, and the blow was reinforced by her rejection of Ocelot and everything he stood for.

"You can't do this to him!" shouted Daisy, "He's done nothing wrong! Why can't you just let it go?! Why can't you-"

Ocelot grabbed her by the wrist as she prepared another punch, but made no move to hit her back. "You don't understand," he spat, his rage boiling to the surface, "Stay out of this and let me do my job." He turned to the driver, who was desperately trying to pretend he was not there. "Take her. Get her as far from here as-"

"No!" Daisy roared, trying to pry her arm from the general's grip, "I won't stand for this load of bull-"

"Sir?" came a faint voice from Ocelot's hip radio, "We got him."

* * *

Luigi had seen way too many action movies to try and go for the roof. Not only was it completely idiotic, it would leave him pinned between a gun and a drop of at least three stories. No matter what he did, he'd transform, and maul several people to death. Instead, once he'd reached the third floor, Luigi had rushed straight to the clear overpass attempting to make his way to the other side of the library, then slip out the back.

Of course, nothing in his life could ever be easy.

Luigi had made it halfway across the overpass when the squadron of soldiers rushed directly into the doorway. Once spotted, they immediately pulled the glass door shut, holding it closed as they trained their weapons on him. Luigi jumped and screamed in terror, his eyebrows shooting off his face, before turning around and trying to run back the way he came, only to be cut off by the same team that had chased him up the building. His momentum slowed to nothing, and his head flipped between doors, desperately trying to think of a solution.

"Target is bound, sir," reported Mumkhar into his radio.

"Do not engage!" barked Ocelot, still holding Daisy with one hand, "Gas him and end this, now!"

Mumkhar sighed in disappointment, but gave the order anyway. Two soldiers, armed with riot guns, took aim at Luigi and fired, sending a pair of metal cans flying into the overpass and smashing through the windows. Upon landing, they began to roll around, spraying misty tear gas into the confining space. Luigi coughed as his eyes began to water, ripping off his over shirt and trying to use it to filter out some of the gas.

Across the lawn, Daisy observed this series of events, much to her already growing horror. All of her logical instincts were overridden, and she just wanted to do something, anything, to help Luigi. She wrenched her arm out of Ocelot's grip, rushing towards the scene of the fight before he could make a move.

"Stop her!" screamed Ocelot.

Two more of his soldiers sprang into action, racing after the sprinting woman. One caught up quickly, but Daisy lashed backwards with one elbow, hitting the man right in the neck. The other made a different call, diving after her and wrapping his arms around the woman's midsection. Daisy struggled with fury in his grip, trying to reach over and claw at his face, but the man was just too strong.

Meanwhile, inside the gassy passageway, Luigi had witnessed the entire spectacle. Upon seeing Daisy get tackled to the ground, something inside him snapped. Everything around him seemed to disappear, including the gas filling his lungs and blinding his eyes. He clenched both of his fists, shaking with fury, as his blue eyes faded to a deep brown. A deep voice, somewhere in the back of his mind, spoke:

 _"Let Kong out."_

Luigi was happy to oblige.

* * *

Daisy's attention was distracted from the soldier by the bestial roar that echoed across the university lawn. Inside the overpass, Luigi Martin began to twitch and spasm, slamming on hand into the window, leaving a spider web-like crack, before the gas obscured his entire body. As his arm disappeared, long brown hairs began to grow from the skin with uncanny speed, and his muscles began to bulge.

Mumkhar grinned. This outta be good.

Inside the overpass, nothing moved for about twenty seconds. All that could be seen was swirling white gas, with specks of brown occasionally visible throughout. Low, angry grunts could be heard, before everything went completely silent.

Then the windows shattered, sending glass shards and pieces of metal supports flying like raindrops. Inside the overpass, the fully transformed Kong roared in primal rage, shaking the very earth. The two riot gun equipped soldiers sprinted away, trying not to shake in their boots. In the light, the Kong was even more imposing, as all of his granite hard muscles were fully visible, and his teeth, dripping with saliva, could be seen grinding in fury. He leaped from the skyway, landing with the force of a small earthquake.

Ocelot made no visible reaction. They'd prepared for monkey boy this time, and it wasn't going to blow up like before. Plus, now Daisy would see the truth. She'd finally understand how he was doing the right thing, he'd have his daughter back, and Martin would be punished for his crimes.

Speaking of Daisy, she could do nothing but stare at the hulking beast that had once been her lover. The creature had no traces of Luigi on it, either in appearance or demeanor. If it weren't for his torn pants, she wouldn't have even guessed it was once human. She was completely frozen, not even registering the two soldiers who grabbed her by the arms and dragged her back towards her father, as the Kong released another ear-splitting roar.

"Alpha squadron!" Ocelot ordered, "Let him have it!"

The aforementioned unit was stationed across the lawn around a large concrete statue of a goomba, having hung back while others chased Martin through the university. Upon receiving orders, they immediately laid into the Kong with everything they had, spraying him with automatic fire. Two military grade humvees armed with machine guns accelerated onto the scene, opening fire on the titanic ape as it stomped his way across the grassy field.

Predictably, the bullets had little to no effect on the Kong's thick skin, bouncing off like raindrops. Of course, that didn't mean they were unfelt. The Kong swiped both hands, trying to drive away the irritating projectiles, before turning and charging towards the source. One of the humvees pulled up alongside him, trying to spray him with point blank bullets. This turned out to be a mistake, as the Kong raised his cranium up and rammed the midsection of the vehicle with a devastating headbutt, cracking it and bending the rest into a u shape, leaving it buried in the dirt.

Turning towards the rest of his attackers, who were still pelting him with bullets, the Kong ripped the engine out of the destroyed car, hurling it towards them like a baseball. The metal death ball punched through the remaining humvee's gas tank, creating an explosion, before smashing into the goomba statue and shattering it. Most of the soldiers were smart enough to run long before this, but a few hung back to keep shooting. They followed their more intelligent companions, however, after the Kong came barreling down towards them, seized the front half of the broken humvee, and started pounding with it like a hammer, attempting to squish the insignificant humans.

Ocelot grinned. They had his attention. Now for the kicker. "Valek! You're up!" he barked.

Mumkhar grinned with anticipation. Tossing off his assault rifle, he grabbed a heavy grenade launcher, aimed it at the Kong, and fired. The explosive slammed right between the creature's shoulder blades, causing him to stumble, but leaving no visible signs of damage. Mumkhar hit it with another shot, advancing on the Kong as he did so.

"Come at me, ya big hairy wanker!" he shouted, firing another grenade.

Unfortunately for the Brit, the Kong had caught on to his tactics. He grabbed both ends of the destroyed humvee, one in each hand, and slammed them together over the approaching grenade, catching it and muffling the explosion. Mumkhar fired two more shots, but they were similarly deflected.

Deciding a change was in order, Mumkhar tossed away the now empty grenade launcher, pulling out two metal gauntlets that he slipped over his hands. Pulling on the levers inside caused four long titanium blades to slide out from each gauntlet. Raising his new melee weapons, Mumkhar Valek charged toward the raging Kong, who attempted to smash him with a hammer fist. Mumkhar vaulted over the massive arm, delivering a claw swipe into the shoulder of the beast, and drawing blood. The wound began to seal up immediately, but the pain was real.

"Damn," muttered Ocelot, "Who says juicing up is bad?"

The Kong, even madder than ever, renewed his efforts to turn the human fly pestering him into visceral paste. He had been hurt, and he was going to make sure that the bug at his feet suffered for that. Mumkhar, super serum coursing through his veins, continued to leap around like a rabbit, avoiding every blow of the humvee pieces and slicing the Kong with his claws. He even started to chuckle as he did so.

Naturally, it was only a matter of time before he screwed something up. As he was circumventing the giant monster, he dug the claws on his left hand right into the Kong's gut, but they got snagged on something inside of him and stuck. As Mumkhar frustratedly tried to wrench his weapon free, he looked up to see the Kong about to hit him with a two fisted overhead smash. In the space of about a nanosecond, Mumkhar decided that his life was worth more than getting obliterated, and pulled his hand free of the gauntlet, landing right on his back as the twisted steel slammed down exactly where he'd been. Thinking quickly, he pushed against the metal with both feet, shoving himself away from another potentially lethal blow.

Ocelot decided that the show had gone on long enough. "Valek!" he roared into his radio, "Enough showing off! Bring him to the Big Feet!"

A few minutes ago, Mumkhar would've protested these orders, but almost dying several times in the space of a few seconds has a certain effect on a person. Thus, he scrambled to his feet and sprinted as fast as possible across the lawn, with the furious Kong hot on his tail. He moved towards the large, open clearing, where two specimens of the Aran International F-6t Bigfoot had arrived.

The Bigfoot was a massive, two-legged robotic walkers, each controlled by a single pilot. The walkers were equipped with a variety of weapons, including a pair of rocket launchers with four shots each on the shoulders, and a gatling gun mounted directly under the cockpit. However, the weapon of the greatest importance was a massive laser cannon under the gun, right between the metal legs. Naturally, Mumkhar, as he scurried towards them with a giant, murderous ape out for his blood, screamed for the two pilots to deploy these particular armaments.

Grinning to each other, the relatively immature pilots proceeded to reference an extremely old internet meme, before targeting the enormous gorilla, and fired. Two long, thin streams of grey colored energy erupted from the cannons, and Mumkhar dived out of the way just in time. The blasts of death proceeded to slam directly into the Kong.

At first, the lasers only staggered the massive beast, causing him to drop the torn humvee pieces, and leaving the scent of burned skin and hair spreading throughout the campus. Unfortunately, the blasts were clearly causing enormous pain, causing the Kong to release strangled yelps as they continued to pulverize him. He tried to block the blasts with his massive hands, receiving only burned palms for his trouble. Eventually, he collapsed on his side, barely retaining consciousness as the lasers continued their assault.

Daisy had been observing this onslaught, restrained by two of Ocelot's thugs. So far, she'd only been able to stare at the Kong in shock, unable to comprehend the sight. Upon seeing her the beast that was her lover assaulted with unstoppable weapons, her brain snapped back into action mode. She kicked one of her guards in the shin, wrenching her arm free, and attempted to grab Ocelot with it, as the other guard yanked on her remaining arm.

"STOP IT! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" she screamed, clawing with her hand, as though she would rip the flesh from his face, "YOU'RE KILLING HIM! HE DOESN'T DESERVE THIS! YOU GREEDY BASTARD-!"

"Get her out of here," barked Ocelot, not even turning to look. This was his moment.

Daisy's roars of fury had reached another set of ears, though. The Kong, having taken the worst punishment he'd ever felt in his existence, heard her voice, and managed to turn his eyes towards her through the barrage of lasers. Somewhere, inside the Kong's primitive brain, the voice of Luigi Martin stirred, calling out Daisy's name helplessly. The Kong could feel Luigi's fear turn to rage.

And rage gave him strength.

Grinding his massive teeth in an attempt to suppress the agony, the Kong reached one massive arm out, grabbing one of the loose pieces of the humvee. Looking under the laser beams, he took care not to bring the chunk of the humvee in the path of them, and hurled the massive piece of debris like a frisbee, aiming directly at the Bigfoot on the left. The pilot barely managed to eject before the Bigfoot's legs were taken out by the missile, leaving the remains of the vehicle to fall face first on the ground.

Now, with only one laser beam to deal with, the Kong was able to stumble out of its path, leaving the pilot to frantically try to retarget him. Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance, as the quickly -recovering Kong leapt across the field, landing right in front of the second Bigfoot. He clapped both his massive palms around the weapon, crushing it with greater strength than that of a garbage compressor. The triumphant Kong now stood before the ruined Bigfeet, the burns on his skin already closing, as his skin knitted itself back together.

To say that Ocelot was angry would've been the understatement of the century. In reality, he was absolutely boiling with rage. If this were a cartoon, it's likely steam would've spewed out of his ears, and his face would've turned the color of fresh blood. "Get the damn chopper!" he roared into his radio.

As the Kong slowly stomped his way in Daisy Ocelot's direction, only a few obstacles remained the inconvenience him. The first was an idiot who continued to fire at him with a pistol, although he had better luck hitting everything but the eight foot tall gorilla monster*. The other was Mumkhar, who refused to accept defeat, seizing a dropped assault rifle and firing at the back of the Kong's head. The creature didn't even notice the bullets glancing off his skull.

"VALEK!" Ocelot roared, "COULD YOU FIND A MORE CONVENIANT TIME TO COMMIT SUICIDE?!"

Mumkhar ignored him, ripping out his earpiece. He popped his remaining clawed gauntlet, charging directly at the back of the monster. Leaping into the air, he couldn't resist shouting "Wave good-bye to your head, wanker!" as he stabbed forward with the weapons. The Kong turned at the sound, and found himself on the receiving end of the titanium blades, which embedded themselves into his pectorals.

Nobody moved for about ten seconds. Mumkhar had a ridiculous grin spread across his face, and the Kong stared at the weapons inside his body, more out of surprise than pain. Ocelot and Daisy couldn't even breathe, both feeling as though Mumkhar's had done something so stupid, time had stopped. Mumkhar chuckled to himself, before looking up into the face of the creature he'd stabbed. A face that was, unmistakably, pissed.

Mumkhar didn't even has time to make an "Oh, shit" face before the Kong struck. Reaching back with his right hand, the ape-like beast wound up and punched Mumkhar with all of his strength. The completely idiotic soldier was sent hurtling across the grass like a basket ball, slamming into a tree. Mumkar Valek fell limply to the ground, his limbs twisted unnaturally, and blood seeping out of multiple locations. To put this in perspective, the number of bones in his body that weren't completely shattered could be counted on one finger. Satisfied, the Kong yanked the claws out of his chest, tossing them aside. The holes in his chest sealed up almost instantly.

While this was going on, Peasley had driven up in his car, and was rushing across the lawn. He'd heard what was going on over the radio, and considering he'd called the military on Luigi Martin, he'd immediately assumed Daisy would be there. Luck turned out to be with him today, as he saw her, standing among a group of military vehicles, with a giant gorilla monster looking at her from a distance of less than ten yards. He called out her name as loud as he could, but Daisy made no response. She only had eyes for the Kong. Breaking free of her captors, she rushed towards the beast as fast as possible.

Once they reached each other, neither Daisy nor the Kong made a sound. Daisy didn't think of the destruction the beast had wrought, but of the man he'd once been. She felt no fear, not even of getting caught in the crossfire. She held up one hand as she walked towards the massive creature. Their eyes met, and Daisy was convinced she could see Luigi's bright blue eyes in the sea of brown.

"Luigi..." she said, "It's okay..." The hint of a smile began to grow on the Kong's face. Unfortunately, the two were now oblivious to the helicopter that flew into view over their heads.

Ocelot had seen Daisy run off, but didn't follow her, knowing he'd the same fate as Mumkhar. "DAISY!" he screamed, fear creeping into his voice for the first time, "HOLD YOUR FIRE!" The chopper pilot didn't hear him in time, as he'd already targeted the Kong and unloaded a burst of machine-gun fire.

Thankfully, the Kong's ears caught the sound of the bullets. Reacting with inhuman speed, he spread his entire back in front of Daisy, acting as a living shield. Daisy shrieked in shock and terror as bullets pinged off his massive hide, but she wasn't hit. Once the onslaught let up, the Kong, angrier than ever, turned to face the chopper before leaping into the air. He began spinning in the air like a top, his massive fists thrust out to the sides, eventually colliding with the helicopter's tail. The chunk of steel fell to the ground, while the rest tumbled through the sky, heading right for Daisy, frozen with sheer panic. It was just about to slam into her when the Kong landed on the ground, covering her once more. The ruined vehicle hit the back of the Kong, exploding in a massive fireball.

"NO!" screamed Ocelot, trying to run to his daughter. He had to be restrained by his own soldiers to stop him from going headfirst into death. Peasley had one to stop him, but he wasn't trying to reach the fire either, being too shocked to even move.

As the smoke and fire began to clear, the massive silhouette of the Kong became visible once more. His back was torn, burned, and bloodied, but the wounds were already beginning to heal. In his hands, he held Daisy Ocelot, unconscious, but seemingly unharmed. The Kong stared at her for a few moments, before looking up, and making eye contact with the shocked face of Revolver Ocelot. In his eyes, Ocelot saw a rage Martin would never have even dreamed up. Gritting his teeth, the Kong spoke two words.

"STAY AWAY."

Then he turned and stormed off, carrying Daisy with him.

* * *

* **Pay attention. This will be important next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5: The Aftermath

**Yeah, my work ethic sucks.**

* * *

Chapter 5: The Aftermath

The latest attempt to capture Luigi Martin was, without a doubt, a complete and total disaster. Several tons of expensive Aran International military equipment had been destroyed, the test subject for the latest super soldier serum was a bag of broken bones and squashed organs, and people had seen the giant monkey in public. Ocelot resisted the urge to bang his head against the side of a bulldozer. If he got another chance to bring Martin in, it was going to be his last. There was no denying that fact.

At the moment, his soldiers were currently raiding Daisy's home, looking for any kind of clue as to where they would run once Martin regained control. After the display at the college, the Kong probably wouldn't harm the woman, so at least she was temporarily safe. Ocelot himself was listening to a mission report from the complete idiot who'd been shooting at the Kong with a pistol before Mumkhar had decided to get himself killed.

"So I fired again," the soldier continued, "And then Ah missed. And then Ah fired, and then Ah missed. Ah fired, and Ah hit something, but it wasn't what Ah was going for, so Ah guess Ah missed. And then Ah was ran outta bullets, and then Ah got sad. Ah ate a pickle, and then Ah passed out on the ground. Then Ah woke up, and Ah reloaded, then Ah fired, then Ah missed. This went on until Ah ran outta bullets again. Ah threw a rock at him, and ah missed. Ah packed another rock, into mah gun, and Ah missed. And then I-*"

The man was cut off by Ocelot punching him right in the nose, knocking him unconscious. He couldn't listen to that mentally deficient bag of crap anymore without shooting someone, most likely himself. "Take him away," he yelled to another soldier, "Have him give his report to Jerry, or somebody. I don't care."

Ocelot stormed out of the house, stopping on the porch. He noticed Peasley sitting quietly on the only chair, staring off into the distance. He walked over to him.

"You did the right thing, calling us," he said to the man.

"Yes, well," Peasley snapped, not even looking at the general, "I'm beginning to seriously doubt that."

Ocelot's friendly demeanor quickly faded. Alright, if that's the way this guy wanted to play it. "Look," he shot back, "She's in danger with him. You saw what he's capable of. If there's anyway you can help me find her, you need to do it."

"Yes, I have eyes," retorted Peasley, "And I saw that he only became that because you attacked him. Not to mention your attempts to battle that creature would've got her killed if not for him."

"I'm trying to save my daughter!" Ocelot growled back, "Why can't you understand that?!"

Peasley stood up, looking Ocelot full in the eye. "I served for two years in the Air Force," he said, quietly, "And I had a lot of superiors who lied to us. Sometimes it was to booster our confidence, sometimes to stroke their own egos. The point is, I learned to recognize the signs. You? You aren't even fooling yourself with that lie."

Ocelot resisted the urge to punch this guy in the face, too. "You do realize," he said, his voice a bit calmer as he repressed the knowledge of Peasley's last few words, "That I can have you prosecuted for obstruction of justice?"

Peasley held up his hands. "You're wasting your time, _General._ I have no idea where they'd go. She didn't entrust me with anything. Having had this conversation, I can see why."

Ocelot buried his face in his hand, before turning around and walking down the steps towards his car. Peasley called after him "If it's any consolation, she never talked about how much of a jackass you are!" It took all of Ocelot's will not to turn around and shoot him in the face.

* * *

The Kong stomped aimlessly through the pounding rain, Daisy Ocelot cradled in his massive, hairy arms. The massive beast had fled to the outskirts of Virginia, far away from any signs of civilization. Tired from the battle in front of the university, he was now searching for a place to rest, and regain some of his strength. Of course, this was the first time he'd had a passenger with him during one of his "outings," so he had to account for her as well. The act of caring so much about a normal human was new to him, but he accepted it.

The Kong eventually settled on a small cave overlooking a grassy plain. Climbing up the rocky outcrop, he slid under the roof, placing Daisy in a leaning position against the wall. He sat down himself, taking the opportunity to study Daisy's face in detail for the first time. When he had awoken the day he was born, he'd payed little attention to her, instead simply lashing out like the frightened animal he was. Now that he truly saw her outside of Luigi's thoughts, she looked considerably more peaceful than expected. Perhaps even...

His thoughts were interrupted as Daisy began to stir. Her mouth released several nonsensical words as her eyelids shifted. The first thing she noticed was the darkness, followed by the fact that she was soaking wet. The next thing was the giant gorilla creature kneeling down in front of her. While she wasn't afraid of the Kong, the shock was still enough to send her jumping back with a gasp.

The Kong, just as surprised as Daisy, leaped backwards, bumping his head on the roof of the cave. The pain was negligible, but he was hurt more by Daisy's reaction. As if that wasn't bad enough, the shock seemed to have "awoken" Luigi from somewhere deep inside their shared brain, and he was now screaming at the top of his lungs inside Kong's mind.

 _"Leave her alone!"_ he screamed, desperately trying to wrestle back control from the Kong, _"She didn't do anything to you! Stay away from her, you mindless monster-!"_

"KONG NOT MINDLESS!" the beast roared, seizing a loose bolder. Imagining he could see Luigi, floating freely as a ghost in the rain, he hurled the massive stone with all of his might towards the man. Of course, the projectile passed through the vision, landing somewhere in the distance with a monumental crash, leaving the Kong to roar with all of his fury into the night.

At the same time, Daisy had become fully alert once more. Seeing the gigantic beast raging, she came to the conclusion that perhaps she had upset him by freaking out. Daisy swallowed her fear, and tried to fix this potentially disastrous situation. She got to her feet and walked up behind the giant Kong, holding out one hand.

"Luigi?" she breathed, in a voice barely above a whisper. She almost fainted in shock when the Kong rounded on her.

"LUIGI NOT HERE!" the beast shouted in her face, "ONLY KONG!" Daisy was terrified once more, but she forced her fears down. Her logical mind was barely able to kick in, giving her more words to say.

"I don't believe that," she responded, somehow managing to keep an even voice, "I saw your eyes. There was some of Luigi in them. I know there was."

For a moment, the Kong looked like he was going to retaliate, but then, to the shock of both Luigi and Daisy, his expression softened. He lowered both of his gigantic arms, breathing slowly as he looked at Daisy. The creature then spoke, his words catching his mental companion completely off guard.

"Kong...not all...Luigi."

Daisy smiled, looking as though she'd known exactly what the creature was going to say beforehand. She held out one of her hands, presenting the palm to the hairy beast. The Kong, unsure of how to react, responded in kind, laying the back of his hand directly over the top of hers. An unspoken agreement passed between the two, and Daisy calmly took him by one finger.

"It's okay," she breathed, turning around, encouraging the Kong to follow her. The creature obeyed, remembering to duck under the overhang of the cave. Daisy returned to her previous position on the side of the cave, joined by the massive Kong, as they both leaned against the wall. The lightning flashed, followed by a clap of thunder, and the Kong briefly turned to snarl at the sound, but stopped when he felt a hand on his arm.

"It's just a storm," Daisy said calmly, "It can't hurt us." The Kong relaxed. He knew what a storm was, the word instantly bringing Luigi's memories to the forefront of his own mind. Daisy rested her head against the giant muscles of the Kong's arm, eventually falling asleep.

Inside the Kong's head, Luigi was still reeling from what he'd just witnessed. He'd thought the Kong would only attack everything it could reach. This was the first time he'd ever seen it react without rage or fear.

 _"I...I don't understand..."_ he said, but his alter ego did not respond. He had already fallen asleep.

* * *

Walking down the halls of a military hospital, Ocelot was unsure of how to feel. A call had come in a few hours ago, informing him that Mumkhar, despite all logic, had actually survived getting smacked out by a several hundred pound gorilla monster. This was, admittedly, the best bit of news he'd received all day. Of course, all things considered, death might've been a better option in this case.

"So...how is he?" Ocelot asked the doctor, "Any chance of him getting out of bed on his own again?"

"Unlikely," responded the man, his voice remaining stable. This, surprisingly, wasn't the worst he'd ever faced in his career. "His bones are smashed to gravel, and that did not do any wonders for his organs, let me tell you. Really, living through the night would be a miracle at this point."

He pulled back the curtain to Mumkhar's bed, giving Ocelot proof of his words. Mumkhar Valek was a broken and bloody mess on a mattress. His arms, legs, and torso had all been bound by casts, and had metal braces placed around them. His face was heavily bandaged, his eyes almost completely swollen shut. He was only breathing due to several, unpleasant-looking life support machines attached to his body. If it weren't for the vital signs clear on the monitor, Ocelot would've believed he was looking at a mangled corpse.

"Goddamn," muttered the general. He attempted to say more, but words failed him in the face of the figure lying before him. He settled on murmuring a quick apology to Valek, before turning around and walking away, leaving the doctor to his work.

Unknown to either of them, Mumkhar's fingers started to twitch, as if reaching for something. His eyelids lifted as much as they were able, trying to take in his surroundings. A single word, heard by no one, escaped his lips, filled with fury.

"Martin..."

* * *

 **The next day**

Sleeping in a deserted cave in the middle of nowhere, during a heavy rainstorm, is not a pleasant experience. Nonetheless, when she recalled that night later, Daisy Ocelot actually felt like she slept a great deal better than she had in years. Perhaps it was the feeling of safety, knowing that the Kong would never lay a finger on her. Or the bliss of sleeping in the same location as Luigi Martin after so long.

When the young woman felt her eyelids rise, she found herself sleeping not against the hairy arm of a giant gorilla creature, but lying on the back of Luigi, having returned to his normal body. His shirt was gone, but his pants were thankfully intact. Rousing him from sleep took longer than anticipated, due to him rolling over and going back to sleep several times. Transforming into a gorilla creature can take a lot out of a person. Eventually, she managed to wake him up, giving the cold man her jacket for the long walk they'd need to take.

Thankfully, they weren't too far from civilization. About an hour of walking later brought the pair to a not too disgusting motel, where they could at least find a place to rest. Still wearing his loved one's jacket, Luigi Martin lay huddled down behind the vending machines while Daisy payed for a room. She returned a few minutes later, leading him by one arm.

"Come on," she said quietly, "It's right over here." Luigi made no response as she took him to their room. His brain was completely numb, terrified of what he'd done and what he could do, apprehensive about having her with him, and more. It was enough to make him ache all over.

Daisy soon left to try and get Luigi some clothes. The man himself went to take care of several personal issues, starting with a shower to brush off all of the filth from the night before. He then gave himself a light shave, possible thanks to Daisy forgetting to take his razor out of her bag the day before.

As he dragged the bladed appliance down his cheek, Luigi looked into the mirror, once again seeing his reflection replaced by the familiar image of the Kong. The creature looked almost docile this time, not glaring at Luigi or baring his teeth. Unlike last time, he didn't jump back in shock, as he'd hoped he'd get this conversation sooner or later.

"Why'd you protect her?" he asked the creature.

The Kong didn't answer, looking everywhere but at the man he shared a body with.

Luigi grew frustrated. "Answer me!" he demanded, "I don't understand! Why did you help her?! I thought...I thought all you ever wanted was to destroy."

This time, the creature looked back at Luigi. Looking into his eyes for the first time, Luigi noticed they weren't pure brown. Faint sparks of blue lingered near the pupil, the same color as his own. When the Kong spoke, it wasn't the rage filled roars he'd heard before, but a calm, albeit deep, reply.

 _"Luigi...would protect girl."_

Luigi's mouth fell open in shock. "But...why do you care what I want? I thought you hated me..."

 _"Luigi...not Kong. But Kong not all Luigi. Kong...feels what Luigi feels."_

Luigi had no response. He stared down at his own feet for a moment, confusion filling his mind, before looking back at the mirror, where his reflection had returned to it's normal place. Luigi sighed, then moved to the toilet for his next unpleasant task.

* * *

Daisy came back into the hotel room, dragging several large shopping bags filled with clothes. Most people would assume she was falling apart at this point, considering her life had been completely uprooted by the arrival of an old boyfriend, who was capable of transforming into a giant gorilla monster. Oddly enough, even after ingesting everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, she was relaxed. Being on the run with Luigi just felt like another day, almost like nothing had changed.

Of course, hearing her beau retching in the bathroom was a bit of a shock.

"Luigi?" Daisy called nervously, putting her bags down. She crossed the room, preparing to open the door, when Luigi himself swung it open. He looked a little pale, and drops of what looked like vomit sat on his chin, but he seemed okay otherwise.

"Yeah, sorry about that," he said, sheepishly, "Just had to retrieve the data." He held up the flash drive in it's protective casing, still wet with his saliva and other bodily fluids.

"Wait...you ate it?!" exclaimed Daisy.

"Pretty much," Luigi answered, "I couldn't be sure it wouldn't fall out if I put it up my-**"

"Okay, okay!" Daisy interrupted, trying to steer the conversation away from that topic, "Anyway, I got the stretchiest ones they had." She pulled out a pair of dark blue pants and tossed them to Luigi.

He took the clothes, pulling them as far as he could across his waist. Unfortunately, they only came just past his hips, unlike the last pair he'd used.

"Uh, are you sure about these?" Luigi asked, "I'd kinda prefer that nobody saw my you-know-what next time I transform."

"Oh, come on!" laughed Daisy, "Even if it ends up on Twitter, it's not like anybody's gonna know it's you."

"Whatever," Luigi sighed, reaching into the next bag. He pulled out a small box, containing a replacement for his heart monitor. "Good thinking, we need this." He clipped it to his wrist.

Daisy rummaged around in another bag. "I got some sedative drugs," she said, "Not hospital grade stuff, but it might help you prevent another shift at the inopportune moment." She produced a pair of hair shears. "You need a trim?"

"Maybe a little," Luigi admitted, running his fingers through his messy hair. He sat down on the nearest chair, allowing Daisy to trim his brown locks. She was no barber, but she knew what she was doing.

"You're lucky you don't keep all that extra body hair after you change back," Daisy joked, "You'd look like a neanderthal."

"Oh, this coming from the lady who went without shaving her armpits and legs for months just to annoy her father?"

"Hey, a little hair in places you don't normally see isn't the same thing! Besides, it was hilarious just to see the look on his face."

"Yeah, well, at least you didn't have to worry about keeping clean shaven while on the run."

"You didn't use to shave your chin so much," Daisy noted, reaching down with one finger, "Because you were so ticklish down here." Her finger began to brush across his skin.

"What? No, hey, stop that!" Luigi shouted through his own laughter. His attempts to throw Daisy off of him resulted in both of them flipping out of the chair onto the bed, while Luigi tried to find a spot where Daisy was vulnerable. Ultimately, they both dissolved into laughter, ending when they started to kiss for the first time in so long.

Of course, all good things end, and this one did when Luigi noticed the steady beeping. He glanced at his wrist, behind Daisy's bushy hair, to see that his heart monitor had kicked into overdrive, showing speeds approaching 160 beats per minute. Panic flooded his system, which only added to the speed of his heart. Desperate to stop it, Luigi pushed himself off of Daisy, taking several deep breaths to calm himself.

"What's wrong?" asked a confused Daisy, panting herself.

"We...we can't," Luigi admitted, sorrow and misery filling his voice. He showed her his monitor. "I can't get too excited."

Daisy expression faded to a somber frown. She numbly grabbed his arm, placing a soft kiss to the back of his hand. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

* * *

General Ocelot was currently fighting the urge to break something. As if the event of the past two days hadn't been irritating enough already, some idiot college students had witnessed the fight at Woohoo Hooniversity. Footage of the Kong, though blurred and amateur, had gone viral, and reporters were now dogging the military for answers. Ocelot's superiors had already registered their frustration with his latest failure, making it abundantly clear that he wasn't getting off the hook for this one. If he ever got the chance to throttle Martin's neck without releasing the Kong, he would take as much time as possible doing so.

Ocelot was interrupted in his thoughts by a lone soldier knocking on the door. "Sir?" she said, a young woman with blond hair, "It's, uh...it's Valek."

Ocelot sighed, getting to his feet and following her. "So, do we have his will?" he asked, "Any family?" He was not looking forward to getting yelled at by Mumkhar's relatives and blamed for his death, but he'd dealt with it before. You had to in Ocelot's job.

"Well," said the women, "That's just it, sir." They'd reached Mumkhar's bed, and she reached over and pulled back the curtains.

Ocelot's mouth flew open, only to be cut off by a call of "Language!" from down the hall.

Mumkhar Valek was completely restored. The lacerations blanketing his body had sealed up, not even leaving any scar tissue. He sat upright, like a man who's bones hadn't been shattered like twigs. Doctors were busy removing the brace and bandages from the man's body, and he looked up at Ocelot.

"Sir," he said simply, as though this was just another day.

Ocelot's bewildered face faded into a smug grin. He reached over and felt up Mumkhar's biceps, his smiling growing wider and wider as he felt the raw strength of the muscles. Satisfied, he looked Mumkhar right in the eyes.

"Up for round three, soldier?" he asked.

"Hell yeah," responded Mumkhar, "One thing though." Ocelot looked puzzled for a moment. "That stuff you've put in me? It's good." Mumkhar leaned forward, his own smile growing. "I want more."

* * *

 ***Once again, Game Grumps, I am very sorry.**

 ****Get your mind outta the gutter!**


	6. Chapter 6: Evershade by the Cure

Chapter 6: Evershade by The Cure

Luigi dumped Daisy's purse out, pushing her phone and her wallet to the side. He grabbed the cash money, handing Daisy everything else.

"Okay," he said, "So, basically, we can take everything here, except for the ID, phone, and cards. They'll trace them no matter where we use them."

"So, how exactly are we going to get up to New York with barely fifty bucks?" Daisy asked.

Luigi sighed. "That's where I'm stuck," he muttered, "Maybe we could hitchhike?"

"I have a better idea," Daisy replied. She reached into her jacket pocket, pulling out a turquoise, circular broach.

"No!" said Luigi, "That was your mom's, it's-"

"I know," said Daisy, sadly, "But this is worth more to me." Luigi searched her face for any signs of faltering, but he could find none. As elated as he was that they'd found a solution, it came with another heap of guilt as he silently blamed himself for further ruining the life of the woman he loved.

"I'll find a way to get it back," he whispered, hugging her, "I swear."

"I know."

One quick walk down to the pawn shop later, while Daisy was handling the money, Luigi borrowed a nearby computer, stuffing the flash drive into it. Accessing his secure email, Luigi sent a short message to Evershade Valley.

"THIS IS ALL THE DATA. NEED TO MEET IN PERSON. WILL BE THERE IN A FEW DAYS. -GREEN THUNDER."

With their task completed, Luigi and Daisy pooled all the remaining money, buying a rough, but still functioning old truck, setting off for the long journey to Specter University. Unfortunately for poor Luigi, he wasn't running anymore, and as a result, he'd made the tiniest slip up. Ocelot's technician's had managed to crack his computer, and had added his screen name "Green Thunder" to their search bots. When he'd sent the email, it was immediately traced to the University, down to the cellular biology department, down to Evershade: Professor Elvin Gadd.

* * *

During the road trip, it was decided that Daisy would be the better driver. If Luigi freaked out too much on the road, it would be a complete disaster. As they silently proceeded through the night, Daisy decided to try and start a conversation.

"So, you really don't remember a thing when you transform?" she asked, "When he saw me on the lawn, and in the cave, I swear I saw you in his eyes. Like he knew me."

Luigi stared out the window for a minute before he answered. "Nothing from the fight, like normal, but in the cave...I don't know how to describe it, I kind of...woke up at the same time as him. It was like I was outside of the body, because he was driving it. I talked to him, but...he wouldn't explain anything. Or he couldn't."

"Wait, what?!" Daisy exclaimed, almost taking her eyes off the road.

"When I look at my reflection," Luigi explained, "Sometimes...sometimes I see him staring back at me. Sometimes he talks...about how he wants to get out. I asked him why he helped you, but all he would say is that he's not all me. I...I didn't understand."

"That's what he said to me in the cave," said Daisy, "Maybe...maybe he's not a separate thing at all. Maybe he's just part of you, given some kind of form by the serum. What if it's all the rage you've been suppressing or something like that?"

"I don't care," Luigi said, firmly, "Even if I could control it, I don't want to. I want him gone."

"But-"

"No. I'd rather go back to being a wimp who can't bring himself to get angry than be someone who can't get angry without someone dying."

He would say nothing else on the matter. Unknown to Daisy, after their conversation, Luigi looked in the window and was unsurprised to find the Kong replacing his reflection. The beast didn't look angry or hurt, but unsure, as though he were lost. The creature didn't understand most of the words, but he could feel Luigi's thoughts. The man turned away from the window. He had enough on his mind without a giant monkey trying to guilt him.

* * *

 **Patriots Military Base**

Mumkhar Valek never thought that he'd be asking to receive multiple injections directly into his spinal column. Not to mention he'd be asking for the same treatment more than once. Yet, that was exactly what he was doing. With the second dose of the serum in his body, Ocelot sent him off to relax. Now that they were aware of Martin's final destination, all they had to do was lie in wait for him, then snatch him.

As he rested up in the bathroom, Mumkhar found himself secretly hoping they'd fail once more. He didn't know Martin personally, but he knew enough about the man that he could tell he was a complete idiot. Luigi Martin, in an innocent attempt a scientific progress, had stumbled upon the secret to the greatest power, the greatest weapon ever created. It made Samus Aran's Iron Woman look like a popgun. And yet, the man not only refused to use it, he was actively trying to get rid of it. It was the greatest waste of power Mukhar had ever heard of.

Martin didn't even deserve the strength of the Kong. Before joining the Special-Ops, Mumkhar had spent his entire life building his body to the absolute best condition he could. Since childhood, he'd always wanted to serve as a soldier, utilizing his personal strength to crush those who stood in his way. Martin hadn't ever worked for power, choosing to work in a dimly lit laboratory running numbers and crap, only to be given the strength to move buildings in one day. He hadn't even gone through the extremely painful administration of the super soldier serum. The thoughts only made Mukhar more and more furious, gritting his teeth and sweating. If he got another chance at the Kong, he would be sure to carve him open.

Mumkhar was so focused that he didn't even examine the injection sites on his back. If he had, he would've seen his back muscles ripple, as his spine pushed further and further up. Soon enough, his spine had three long columns of large bumps jutting out above his skin, nearly piercing through the flesh, almost like spikes. His body shuddered as he broke out into a cold sweat, but it only served to fuel his vengeful desires. He grinned, failing to notice the considerably sharper fangs he'd begun to develop.

* * *

 **New York**

Luigi and Daisy had unfortunately been forced to ditch their truck in a seemingly endless traffic jam, so they were now left walking through the city. Some happy loser would find the truck, hopefully. Now, all that was left was to find a way to get to Specter University. The pair stood in front of a city map.

"It's on the other side of town, all the way in Harlem" said Daisy, "The subway entrance is pretty close."

Luigi just looked at her. "Me, in a pressurized metal tube, underground, surrounded by dozens of people, in the most populated city in the country?"

Daisy shrugged. "Touché," she agreed, "Do we have enough for a cab?"

"God, I hope so."

A few minutes later, Luigi was beginning to question his own decision making capabilities. They'd somehow managed to end up with the most aggressive taxi driver in the entire city of New York, which is not an easy feat. The cab swerved like a Mario Kart player using the Wii Wheel, nearly slamming into every single obstacle in it's path. It zipped between lanes, never once bothering to use the turn signal. Stop signs and crosswalks went completely ignored. The driver, a stick thin man in purple clothes, wasn't exactly the most stable, as you may have guessed.

"Outta my way, Meester Eyeballs!" he shouted, "Waluigi ain't got no time for you wimpy driving!"

Luigi clenched up his entire body in the back seat, his monitor beeping dangerously fast, as he tried to take deep breaths. He gripped Daisy's arm with both hands, teeth clenched as he did so.

"Breathe," she ordered him, trying to ignore the iron-hard grasp on her own arm. Luigi nodded, almost pitching forward in his seat as he did so.

Waluigi then proceeded to run about three red lights, nearly hitting a woman as he did so. "Move it, you steenky moo-cow!" he roared, "Why you so slow? Waluigi got places to go, money to get, a game to put on Kickstarter that Waluigi not actually gonna finish!"

Daisy couldn't take it anymore. "STOP THE DAMN CAR!" she screamed, nearly deafening poor Luigi.

Thankfully, Waluigi was sane enough to actually listen, pulling up on a nearby curb, albeit nearly ramming a garbage bin in the process. Luigi stumbled out of his seat, followed by a fuming Daisy.

"What is wrong with you?!" she shouted directly into the driver's seat window.

Waluigi seemed remarkably unaffected. "What's wrong, baby?" he chuckled, "You no like Waluigi's wild ride?" He winked.

That did it.

Waluigi was apparently smarter than he looked, as he drove off to cause some more traffic accidents before Daisy could start kicking the cab. "YOU ASSHOLE!" she screeched, followed by a long stream of unprintable obscenities. After she'd run out of swear words, she bent over, panting, while Luigi stood off to the side, his expression being one of complete and utter shock.

"Um...are you okay?" he managed to get out, "I know some pretty good anger management techniques, if you're-"

"Shut up," Daisy cut him off, "We're walking. End of discussion." She grabbed him by the wrist, dragging him down the sidewalk. Luigi gave no resistance, deciding he'd probably be safer that way.

* * *

 **Specter University, Harlem, New York**

Professor Elvin Gadd was grateful to finally be done with classes for the day. It wasn't that he disliked teaching, but that he had to endure the bad puns. When your name is literally "E. Gadd," you tend to attract of a lot of knee slap worthy jokes. It didn't help that he was short, and his hair had been reduced to a long, white wisp that extended from his cranium. He knew that all the jokes were just in good fun, even laughing along with them, but it got old real quick.

As he dragged his belongings down the front steps, he suddenly became aware of a voice calling out his name.

"Dr. Gadd!" He turned, coming face to face with a young woman with bushy auburn hair. "Hey, I'm Daisy Ocelot, from Woohoo."

A memory surfaced in E. Gadd's brain.

"Oh, Dr. Ocelot!" he said, "I read your papers on gamma radiation with that Luigi feller! Nice work, I gotta say."

"Yeah," sighed Daisy, "There's somebody here who needs to speak with you."

She stood aside, allowing Luigi to come up to the steps. He smiled politely, holding out his hand to E. Gadd.

"Evershade," he said, "Nice to finally see you face-to-face."

"Green Thunder?" asked E. Gadd, surprise filling his features, "Thought you'd be a youngster, given all your apprehension."

"Well, you'd be surprised."

* * *

"Sometimes, I wondered if I'd made you up," E. Gadd confessed. The trio had moved to the professor's office, cluttered with paranormal articles, science journals, and half-finished projects. "All that power, something that shouldn't even be possible...even when I looked at your old blood samples. It's crazy."

"So, I assume you managed to make the cure? Now that you have everything?" Luigi asked, unable to keep the hope from creeping into his voice.

E. Gadd directed his gaze to the floor. "Well..." he mumbled, "I did put together...something. And I have a pretty good idea of an exact dosage. But as for being a full on antidote..."

"What's the good news?" asked Daisy nervously, before Luigi could.

"In the tests I managed to run, it did manage to reduce radiation levels to a much safer point," said E. Gadd, "The blood was almost completely restored to normal."

"And the bad news?"

"I don't know if it's permanent. Even if we induce a transformation, and we give ya exactly the right dose, we don't know if that'll cure you forever. It might just be a one-shot for that particular...incident. We don't know if it's just your blood that's been irradiated. Could be your organs, which we'd have to cut open to find out. In which case your only option would be to carry around a tote-bag of the stuff. Not to mention the risks..."

"Risks?!" exclaimed Daisy.

E. Gadd nodded. "The chemicals we had to use for this cure...they're pretty toxic. If we overshoot the amount, by like, I don't know, zero point one millimeters, it might..."

"Kill me," Luigi finished. Daisy looked at him. "I'm not too worried about that. It's pretty similar to the original formula we used, and we got that dose right."

"I don't know, feller," said E. Gadd, "I mean, maybe you should do the prepping."

Daisy answered, "I'll do it. If anyone's got the experience for this, it's me."

"There's also the inverse," continued Luigi, "If we give me too little to have any effect, you'll be at the full mercy of the giant monkey...thing. He won't exactly be happy to be in a small room with needles sticking in him."

E. Gadd waved a hand. "Listen, sonny," he said, "I'm an old man. I ain't got nothing better to do, or even that much time left. Going out in style like that? Hoo-wee! I'm all for it."

Daisy casually leaned over to Luigi. "Are you sure about this guy?"

"Believe me," he answered, "He's not nearly as crazy as he looks...I think."

* * *

 **Patriots Military Base**

Mumkhar should've been thankful he was irreplaceable on this mission. If he wasn't, the choppers would've taken off without him about ten minutes ago. However, Ocelot made everyone wait, just so his best soldier could come down from whatever high he got on from that super soldier serum. When he finally showed up, he crammed into the only seat left on the chopper, breathing heavily as he did so.

"Alright," said Ocelot, "You know the drill. This time, we are bringing in Martin without incident. It's not like we have anything left to deal with his alter ego. For the love of God, just shoot him in the butt with a tranq and bring him back. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" came the reply.

With that settled, the pilot started up the engines, talking off at last. One of the soldiers on Mumkhar's side turned to him, noticing that the British man still had a few drops of sweat on his head.

"You feeling up for this, man?" he asked.

Mumkhar smiled maliciously, one of his sharp teeth nearly piercing his lip.

"You have no idea," he cackled.

The soldiers on either side of him wisely scooted away.

* * *

 **Specter University**

E. Gadd kept himself busy, setting up all the expensive lab equipment for the dangerous procedure they were about to attempt. The antidote, a greenish liquid inside a large, cylindrical glass container, was hooked up to a dialysis machine, along with several other empty ones. He attached the remaining containers to IV tubes, and dusted off the mechanical reclining chair in the center of all the machines.

"Get yourself prepped, sonny," E. Gadd ordered Luigi, "Let's get this show on the road."

Luigi complied, removing his shirt and setting himself down. E. Gadd attached electrodes to his temples, and bound his wrists and ankles down with the available leather straps, assisted by Daisy, who struggled to stay calm. IV needles were inserted into Luigi's elbows, as well as just above his ankles, connected to the dialysis machine.

"I'm so sorry," Daisy mumbled, as she held the rubber mouth guard, "That you have to go through this."

"You and me both," agreed Luigi, taking the object between his teeth.

"We ready to go, feller?" asked E. Gadd.

"Ready as we'll ever be, I hope," chimed in Daisy.

"Alrighty," said E. Gadd, pressing a few buttons. Luigi grunted as the IV needles began sucking, pulling his blood free. Streams of red traveled down the tubes, swirling up into the containers on the dialysis machine. "It'll automatically mix the antidote with your blood, so we can administer it all at once. We'll have to actually start a reaction in order to test it, though." E. Gadd picked up a nearby electric prod and switched it on. The device hummed, releasing a few blue sparks as it charged to full power.

"You sure about this?" he asked one more time.

Luigi nodded. E. Gadd then took the rod, and jabbed it right into one of Luigi's temples.

The effect was instantaneous. Luigi roared in fury, spitting out the mouth guard in the process. twisting in his chair and grinding his teeth. Daisy instinctively backed away, aware of exactly what was coming, but E. Gadd couldn't more gripped by the images. Luigi's muscles tensed up, as every vein on his body bulged outward. He opened his eyes as the bright blue faded to a solid brown. He roared in intense pain as his already rock hard muscles began to engorge themselves, as his entire body began to expand, sticking over the sides of the chair.

"Dear God..." E. Gadd managed to mutter, reaching for the controls.

"Not yet!" shouted Daisy, "It's not over yet."

E. Gadd spun around, horrified, as the women's words began to ring true. Luigi opened his mouth again, showing his teeth as they began to sharpen. Brown hair began to grow from nearly every spot on his body, forcing itself up through his skin. The Kong, noticing his bindings, began to pull furiously at them, attempting to free himself from this strange new prison.

"Okay, do it now," Daisy breathed. She looked at E. Gadd, only to find the professor transfixed by what he was seeing. He merely stared at the Kong, mouth open, as he thrashed like a wounded animal. "GADD! DO IT NOW!"

That seemed to bring the professor back to his senses. He rushed over to the main computer console, typing in the commands to begin pumping the newly mixed antidote. Unfortunately, the Kong had grown too strong, causing the binding straps on his wrists to snap. The supporting base of the chair began to crumple like a paper cup under his massive weight. Desperate, Daisy leaped onto the raging beast's chest, looking directly into his eyes.

"Luigi! Luigi!" she cried, trying vainly to hold his arms in place, "Look at me, look at me! It's alright, calm down!"

The Kong looked at the woman he'd once saved, but he could sense what was going on. He spoke no words, merely growling in anger as he tried to get free without hurting Daisy.

"Are you freaking kidding me?!" roared E. Gadd, as the computer began to display error messages. Furious, he rushed towards the dialysis machine, deciding to use the tried and true solution of banging on it like the dickens until it worked. Thankfully, it did so.

The pump began to push down the green antidote, alongside Luigi's blood. The IV needles had managed to stay inside of the Kong during his tirade, and they carried the mixed solution directly into his veins.

The Kong blinked, and Daisy found herself facing not the destructive brown orbs, but Luigi's blue ones. Slowly but surely, the brown hair began to actually retract into his body, disappearing under the skin. His muscles shrank, and his arms and legs began to retreat from over the edge of the chair. Luigi Martin's eyes dropped shut, as his veins swelled a dark blue color once more. Finally, the Kong was completely gone, leaving a small man lying in it's place. Daisy and E. Gadd both held their breath.

"...Luigi?" Daisy finally whispered, fear evident in her voice, "Come on...wake-"

Luigi's eyes snapped open as he inhaled a huge breath. His upper torso lifted off the chair as he gasped for air, before slamming back down and panting. Eventually, his breath settled into a normal pattern, and he visibly relaxed. He looked at Daisy.

"Is it safe to assume it worked?" he asked.

"Yes...yes..." said Daisy.

"Oh thank God."

E. Gadd checked Luigi's vital signs. "Yep. He's good. Tighter'n a young-"

"Language!"

* * *

Once everybody had quieted down, Luigi and co. moved back to E. Gadd's office to try and figure out what to do next. Unfortunately, this meant doing the one task harder than beating the Kong off with a plastic spork: Getting E. Gadd to shut up about it.

"OUTSTANDING!" he shouted, dancing through the office, "IT WAS LIKE WATCHING THE CHICAGO CUBS ACTUALLY MAKE A COMEBACK!* LUIGI, MY BOY, YOU ARE ON FIRE! YOU'VE GOT THE POWER OF A-"

"SHUT UP!" screamed Daisy. E. Gadd fell into a shocked silence, staring at her and shaking. "I'm sorry...I'm sorry, we just need to get back on topic."

"Right, right," said E. Gadd. He grabbed the data sheets from the test. "Now, when the transformation started, there was a reaction in Dr. Martin's amygdala. You know, the area of the brain that processes emotion, memory, that kind of stuff. There was a pulse of pure gamma radiation from your amygdala that went throughout your entire body. I think the serum that you took, the one that was supposed to guard against radiation, actually lets you absorb it for a while, until it wears off. Otherwise, the residual gamma radiation would've killed you years ago."

"Well, good to know we didn't screw up all of the experiment," grumbled Luigi.

"Now, feller, like I said, the thing is we don't know if the cure is permanent. We might've just suppressed one particular incident, in which case, you're gonna need to try and take the antidote on a regular basis. Of course, in all of my tests, no subject ever survived, but they didn't have the serum-"

Luigi shot up in his seat. "Test subjects...?" he asked, shock filling his face.

E. Gadd grinned. "Oh, right, the surprise! Come on, I gotta show ya this!"

He lead the two of them down the hall, towards a large, open storage room, filled with glass cases. Inside the cases were dozens of blood packets, filled from top to bottom. Luigi noticed one of them was marked "Green Thunder," along with a date, and recoiled once he realized it was the date he'd sent a sample of his own blood to Evershade.

"This is...this is..." he breathed.

"You, Dr. Martin!" exclaimed E. Gadd, prancing around the hallway, "Took me months, but I did manage to reverse engineer it from the samples in the mail. We started on rodents, but the radiation basically cooked them on the inside. Once we stepped it up a notch, it got way more interesting. Autopsies provided so much, I could make more by the bucket load!"

"All of this..." Daisy sputtered, "Is irradiated?!"

"Yep!" cheered E. Gadd, "And now that I have you here, we know the antidote at least partially works, we can fine tune it! Give the healing powers of your monkey alter ego to anyone! Make it controllable, cure anything! No disease, no genetic disorders! All of humanity problems solved in-"

E. Gadd continued to prattle on, but Luigi wasn't listening. He wasn't even paying attention to the growls coming from the back corner of his mind. He was too busy hyperventilating, trying to make some kind of sense out of what he was seeing. Taking a deep breath, he spoke the one word he could get out.

"No."

E. Gadd stopped dead in his tracks. "What?"

Luigi waved his hand at the room. "This...all of this. We have to burn it. Throw it away. Now."

E. Gadd's jaw dropped. "You're not serious! This is the cure to every problem on this planet! We could-"

"You have no idea what we are dealing with," snapped Luigi, "This is the most dangerous thing to ever come from the mind of the human race. We cannot let them get access to it."

"But the cure-"

"They don't care about the cure! They want armies of those things! They will try to weaponize it, and before you know it, cities will be in ruins, and millions of people will die!"

E. Gadd threw his hands up. "You would discard all of the power in this room because you're afraid?!"

"YES!" screamed Luigi, "I've seen the results of this thing! It'll-"

Unfortunately for poor Luigi, he'd made the mistake of stepping right in front of the window. Across the street, a sniper had been waiting for just such an opportunity, and fired.

Luigi felt the titanium-tipped hypodermic dart puncture the skin on his butt, sending it's sedative poison into his system. His eyes drooped as he fell to his knees. Daisy was shouting something, but he couldn't make it out. He heard a thump as she was suddenly thrown to the side, then felt strong hands seize his throat. He was yanked up, looking right into the face of the man who'd chased him at the university.

"Where is it?!" roared Mumkhar, "I wanted a rematch, not this...trash!"

Luigi couldn't respond as he started to fade. Mumkhar snarled in frustration, elbowing Luigi in the face, knocking him out.

* * *

 ***I promise, that is the only sports reference I will ever make. Mostly because I know basically nothing about professional sports.  
**


	7. Chapter 7: King Kong vs Godzilla, 2016

**Woof! I think this is the longest thing I've ever written.**

* * *

Chapter 7: King Kong vs Godzilla, 2016 Edition

To say that Luigi's mood was low would be a massive understatement. In fact, he felt no emotion whatsoever. He didn't even feel despair at whatever Ocelot had in store for him. Instead, all there was was numbness, leaving a hole in his body. He stared ahead, still drowsy from the sedative, as he lay on a stretcher, his hands bound by hard cuffs. In the background, he could hear Ocelot screaming at the Valek freak. Something about jeopardizing the mission. It didn't really matter. Nothing did.

Speaking of the devil, Ocelot himself came storming out of the university, marching right over to Luigi's stretcher. For the first time in so long, Luigi Martin stared straight into the eyes of his nemesis, the man who was at least partially responsible for ruining his life. The briefest flicker of hatred managed to creep into his eyes.

"If you've taken it from me," growled Ocelot, "If you've destroyed what I worked so hard to regain, I will bury you and throw away the key. I will put you in a cell so small you can't even sit down."

Luigi said nothing in reply. Instead, he merely used the last of his strength to raise his middle finger. Ocelot snorted, signaling his troopers to carry Luigi to the helicopter.

As he turned around, he saw his daughter storming down the steps after her beloved. He reached for her shoulder to talk to her, to make her understand, but she shoved him away.

"Go to hell," she muttered, not even bothering to look at him.

"Daisy!" snapped Ocelot, grabbing her arm, "He's a criminal-"

Daisy spun around. "Is he?!" she shot back.

"He's dangerous," protested Ocelot, "He needs to be-"

"Don't you dare try to spin this," Daisy snarled, "You used him. You used him to further yourself. You ruined his life for your little pet project, when all he wanted was to be a scientist. You are dead to me as a father. You are nothing but human garbage. Mom would be ashamed of you."

With those final words, she turned on her heels, marching into the helicopter. Ocelot's face betrayed no emotion, but if he ever said that her final words didn't sting, he'd be a liar.

* * *

"So, let me get this straight. You have everything from him, yet you can't make another?" said the soldier. She had been left in E. Gadd's lab to interrogate him, along with Mumkhar, as punishment for what he'd almost done to Martin.

"For the last friggin' time, no!" snapped E. Gadd, "He was one in a million! You can't just put his blood in somebody and expect the same results! I don't even have the full analysis of the original serum he used! It would take years to get another result even close to him!"

The blonde soldier sighed. "Well, at least we won't have more of those things jumping arou-"

The young women was cut off by a blow to the back of her head. She fell to the ground, Mumkhar Valek standing over her, panting.

"Stupid bitch," he grumbled.

"What the hey did ya do that for, sonny?!" exclaimed E. Gadd, "What're you-"

He was cut off by Mumkhar pulling out his pistol, jamming the barrel right between E. Gadd's eyes. The professor's eyes widened in shock, and his mouth dropped open.

"Shut your trap, old man," grumbled Mukhar, cocking the gun.

"Wh-what do you want?" breathed E. Gadd, clearly terrified.

"That stuff you pulled out of Martin," growled Mumkhar, "I want that. I want you to put that inside me." An unsettling grin crept onto his face, the prospect giving him chills.

E. Gadd's eyes widened as he stared at the man before him. Mumkhar's now visible teeth had sharpened to unnatural degrees. His entire body shivered, and his skin had taken on a slight green hue. He looked...wrong.

"You're already on something, aren't you?" E. Gadd asked, understanding filling his brain.

"Yeah," grumbled Mumkhar, "But it's not enough. If I can't get a fight outta Martin, I'll take that power. You've seen it..."

"I have," said E. Gadd, "It's incredible. Like a god given flesh and blood. It's like nothing that's ever walked this earth."

"And Martin's too much of a pathetic maggot to use it," said Mumkhar, "I will. Make me into that."

"I could give you the same treatment," said E. Gadd, "But if it mixes with whatever you're taking already...the results could be monstrous. You might become-"

He didn't get a chance to finish, as Mumkhar seized him by the neck. His serum-enhanced strength enabled him to easily lift the tiny man, raising him up as though he were a feather. The terrified scientist stared into the eyes of the raging British soldier. There was no mercy in those eyes.

"I'll do it...I'll do it..." croaked E. Gadd, panic seeping into his voice, "Just thought...you should know...what you're getting into..."

Mumkhar smiled, letting E. Gadd down. Back in business.

* * *

Now that the sedatives had mostly worn off, Luigi Martin was much more lucid as he sat on the military chopper. His hands were bound, and Daisy had been moved down the edge of her bench, away from him. Luigi himself was placed near the pilot's seat, where Ocelot could watch him. It didn't matter. The biggest problem now was deciding what to feel.

On one hand, the Kong may have been gone. Perhaps Luigi was finally free of the destructive curse that he'd so foolishly created all those years ago. Sure, they had his blood now, thank you, E. Gadd, but it would take years before they could properly replicate it. Not to mention he and Daisy were the foremost experts on the subject. Could they really create more Kongs without Luigi and Daisy's knowledge? That was one thing they wouldn't be getting.

But then there was the loss. He was going to spend the rest of his life in prison. If Ocelot had his way, Luigi Martin would never see the light of day again. Was it worth sacrificing everything he had left just to get rid of the Kong? Was he willing to be alone until he died?

Then he looked over, across the aisle, towards the woman he loved, who somberly looked back. Even after everything that had happened, Ocelot would never let her be imprisoned. He hadn't destroyed her life, as he'd once assumed. For the first time since the test, Luigi felt the briefest hint of a smile creeping onto his face. If Daisy Ocelot would be allowed to run free, he could live with dying in prison.

"Don't get any ideas into your head," snarled Ocelot from beside him. Luigi turned. "You're staying away from her. You've done enough."

Once upon a time, Luigi wouldn't have even responded. He wouldn't follow Ocelot's orders, but there would be no self-defense. He would've just mumbled something and walked away. However, Luigi Martin had dealt with far too much over the last few weeks, months, and years. He had changed.

"If this is how you treat everyone, it's no wonder she hates you," he spat back at the general.

Ocelot nearly flinched. First Daisy basically abandoned him, now Martin had actually grown a backbone? This affair was going to be the death of him. On the bright side, it was finally over.

What Ocelot didn't know, of course, was that he'd spoken way too soon.

* * *

"See, this is wh-what I was tr-trying to tell you about..." stuttered E. Gadd, trying to keep his voice calm, trying being the operative word. He'd administered the procedure like Mumkhar had asked, giving him a transfusion of Luigi's blood, along with a gamma pulse. The results...weren't pretty.

Mumkhar Valek's epidermis had hardened into hard scales, turning a sickly shade of yellow in the process. His head, by contrast, had turned a dark green, with his mouth becoming a strange tan color. His back had turned green as well, sticking out in a shape like turtle shell, sporting spikes in three columns, looking like they had emerged directly from his spine. His fingers had sharpened into claws, and his teeth resembled daggers. His entire body had practically tripled in size, pushing against the ceiling tiles. Two horns had sprouted from his temples, curving around and pointing straight up. Mumkhar's normally ash-black hair had brightened into a blood red, along with his eyes. The new creature stared down E. Gadd, snorting through it's huge nostrils.

"Y-you probably don't understand...wh-what I'm saying," peeped E. Gadd, "B-but, if you j-just get back on the t-table-"

The beast didn't even acknowledge the terrified professor. Instead, he charged straight forward, with E. Gadd barely managing to dive to the side in time, slamming into the dialysis machine and getting a nasty cut on his head. Mumkhar, meanwhile, kept his momentum, smashing through the expensive machines like paper. He reared back and punched the brick wall, creating a path to freedom, and they city that lay just beyond.

E. Gadd sat motionless on the ground, his head pounding like a jackhammer, curling into the fetal position. Unfortunately, he sat just under the tube that held the sample of Luigi's blood, and he'd cracked it. A single solitary drop slipped down the glass surface, down from the machine, directly on the cut on his head.

E. Gadd flinched, as his flesh began to ripple from the point of contact. Green veins began to spread ever so slowly outwards from the cut, pulsing as the irradiated blood flowed through them. E. Gadd's terrified expression remained frozen on his face. Then he smiled.

* * *

"Uh, general?" came the voice of the pilot. He held out the phone, clearly intending for Ocelot to take it. Ocelot, having had more than his share of drama and disaster for one day, sighed, before grabbing the phone.

"What is it now?" he groaned.

"Sir, something's in the street!" screamed the Sargent on the other end, "It smashed outta...we think it killed Valek! Six troopers are already dead...we thought it was the Kong..."

"That's not possible, you idiot," snapped the irritable general, "Get me a picture of what's going on down there!"

"Give us a sec! We're on 123rd and Douglass Boulevard!"

Ocelot sighed once more. Evidently, today, he wasn't going to get a break from this crap. He turned back to the pilot.

"Turn around. Bring us back," he ordered.

The pilot obeyed, swinging the chopper around, heading directly for Harlem. Naturally, both Ocelot's little outburst and the fact that the entire vehicle did a complete one-eighty didn't go unnoticed by the passengers. Luigi and Daisy both looked up from their seats.

"Uh, why are we turning around?" asked Luigi, "Are we getting hotdogs, or-"

"Shut the hell up, Martin!" growled Ocelot.

Down in the street, the soldiers had managed to reach the creature, activating their helmet cameras and feeding it straight to Ocelot's chopper. The scene in the streets of Harlem could only be described as chaos. Cars had been pounded and tipped over, and several were on fire. A handful of bodies littered the ground, casually tossed aside like trash. The few civilians who remained were frantically running for their lives, dodging bricks falling from damaged buildings and thrown objects. A lamppost was ripped straight from it's place in the concrete, sending sparks raining onto the ground. And in the center of it all, the monster that had once been Mumkhar Valek swung the metal club around smacking cars aside and sending local police officers flying through the air. He released an inhuman laugh from his gaping jaws, clearly taking delight in the carnage he'd created.

Ocelot could only stare at the scene, color draining from his face in the process. It didn't take a genius to realize just what had happened. Only one person had been ranting about the Kong's strength enough to try something that crazy.

"Valek..." he whispered, terror in his voice.

"What the hell is happening?!" demanded Luigi as he stormed to the front of the chopper followed closely by Daisy. The other onboard soldiers tried to stop them, but only half-heartedly. They'd heard the chaos unfolding on the live feed as well. They wanted to know what was going on just as much

Luigi stared in shock at the scene unfolding on the screen.

"Tell me this isn't your fault," he demanded.

Ocelot didn't respond. He couldn't.

"Oh my God, you Goddamn idiot!" roared Daisy, throwing her hands in the air.

Ocelot ignored them, trying desperately to focus on what was important.

"Take him down," he ordered into the phone.

In the streets, police and the soldiers not speaking to Ocelot were already attempting to do just that, but it seemed impossible. Mumkhar's strength was sufficient to lift and toss cars around like toy blocks. Police and soldiers had opened fire with pistols and M-16s, but the bullets merely glanced off his scaly hide. Mumkhar just chuckled at the ineffective weapons.

The squadron of soldiers currently in contact with Ocelot pulled up in their Jeep, watching as Mumkhar continued to trash the city.

"Do we happen to have any bigger artillery?" the driver asked, fear starting to creep into his voice.

The two in the back reached down, pulling up a metal case. Clicking it open, they reached inside, pulling out a yellow, metallic object with a massive drill on the end. One of the soldiers fitted the Drill Arm to his right shoulder, taking aim at the raging Mumkhar. As he prepared, he couldn't stop himself.

"HASTA LA VISTA, BABY!" he screamed, pulling the trigger.

The Drill shot off like a bullet, zipping through debris as it approached it's monstrous target. Flames shot from the rear as the metal bringer of death closed it. Mumkhar's back was turned, but just as the Drill was about to reach him, he spun around, seized it with one massive claw, and rammed it with his skull.

The Drill burst with a grenade-like effect, and for a moment, the soldiers and Ocelot rejoiced. However, once the smoke began to clear, their relief evaporated. Mumkhar was completely unharmed by the Drill Arm, and he stood laughing in the street.

Nobody moved for about ten seconds. The soldiers in the Jeep could only stare in horror at what had just happened. Up in the helicopter, Luigi, Daisy, and Ocelot did the same, petrified of the seemingly invincible creature. Mumkhar continued to cackle maniacally, before he began stomping his way straight for the Jeep.

"Get out of there! RETREAT! RIGHT NOW!" Ocelot screamed into the phone.

The panicked soldiers obeyed as quickly as they could, shifting into reverse and slamming on the gas. Unfortunately for them, Mumkhar picked up his pace once he noticed. He charged towards them like an angry rhino, seizing a damaged taxi on the way. He jumped, coming down hard on the hood of their car. As he stood over the soldiers, holding the ton of metal over his head, Mumkhar Valek spoke for the first time since his transformation.

"GIVE ME A REAL FIGHT!" he roared.

Then he brought the taxi down on them.

In the helicopter, Ocelot's feed suddenly cut out, replaced by blurred static. All those watching gasped in horror at what they'd just witnessed.

"Orders, sir?" asked the pilot, his voice shaking.

Ocelot buried his head in his hands for a few seconds, before looking back up. Determination filled his face, dragged up from the depths of his soul, in the face of death.

"Contact all reserve units," he ordered, "Tell them to converge on Harlem."

"Oh, good. Let's just pull out all the guns again," Luigi interrupted, throwing his hands into the air, "Because that worked so well last time, genius."

Ocelot spun around. "If you have a better idea, Martin, I would love to hear it!" he shouted, "He's going to tear the city apart unless we do something!"

Luigi did have an idea, although whether or not his was better was definitely up for debate. Before he brought it forward, there was one last step to be taken. Taking a deep breath, Luigi leaned back and closed his eyes.

* * *

 _Luigi's mindscape was oddly calm, considering the circumstances. The man found himself standing in a black void, floating in zero gravity. He looked around, before noticing the hulking silhouette, cloaked in shadow, just across from him. The only features he could make out were two brown eyes, burning into his soul._

"So you are still here," _said Luigi, noting that the antidote hadn't been a perfect success after all,_ "Kinda surprised this worked the first time, but I'm not complaining."

 _"You...try get rid of Kong," growled the Kong, fury filling his voice._

"Yes, yes I did," _Luigi replied, trying to block out the fear from his voice,_ "But we can't talk about that now. There's-"

 _He was cut off by a massive arm, covered in brown hair, that lunged out of the darkness, seizing him around his entire body. The Kong yanked the man towards him, staring right into his face and snorting with rage. Even in the mental conversation, Luigi could feel the Kong's breath on his face._

 _"KONG NEVER DO ANYTHING TO YOU!" roared the creature, "KONG JUST WANT TO BE LET OUT AND BE LEFT ALONE! WHY YOU TRY KILL KONG?!"_

"I wasn't..." _Luigi gagged, as his neck began to constrict,_ "They wanted...to use you as a weapon...every time...I let you out...you destroy...people die..."

 _The Kong could feel that this was the truth, as the minds of the man and the beast were one. For the first time, the Kong experienced all of Luigi's guilt and shame at the destruction he'd caused. He felt the love they had for Daisy Ocelot, the hatred for General Ocelot, and the fear the Mumkhar Valek was truly unstoppable, and would continue to slaughter innocents for his own pleasure. Paralyzed by the onslaught of emotions, the Kong dropped Luigi, who floated down, panting from the iron-hard grip._

"Look..." _Luigi grunted, inhaling deeply,_ "Maybe we've been going about this the wrong way. We've both been wrestling for control, because we both wanted to be free from the other. Unfortunately, we're both stuck in this body. What if we worked together? I can induce a transformation, you deal with that Valek freak-"

 _"What make you think Kong care about Valek,?" growled the Kong. But his expression betrayed the fact that he was in denial._

"Because you're part of me!" _Luigi shouted, pulling at his hair in frustration,_ "There, I said it! Are you happy now?! I've been denying that for years, because I thought you were just a mindless monster! Now that I know that's not the case, I know you don't want to let those people die! Because I wouldn't!"

 _The Kong sighed, looking down at his hairy hands. As much as he hated to admit it, Luigi had a point. Kong had experienced more and more of Luigi's emotions lately, as much as he'd tried not to, wanting to distance himself from the man he believed was holding him back. Ultimately, he couldn't stop himself, even if he wanted to. He would make the same decisions as Luigi Martin._

"Please..." _Luigi begged, holding out his hand to the creature._

 _The Kong looked from the hand to the man he'd spent his entire existence despising. Finally, he made his decision, and placed his hand on Luigi's._

 _"Yes."_

* * *

Thankfully, the conversation between Luigi and his alter ego, consisting of thoughts, had taken less than one second in real time. The entire event occurred in the time it took him to blink. With the matter settled, Luigi opened his eyes once more, turning to Ocelot. Time to start the begging again.

"It has to be me. It's, like, twelve percent* my fault that this is happening. You have to drop me down there." He stared at Ocelot, the man he'd despised for so long. "Please."

Ocelot looked at the man he'd been hunting for the better part of the last decade. It'd been so long since he and Luigi Martin had looked each other in the eyes, partly because Luigi usually dodged eye contact before the whole Kong fiasco. In the scientist's blue eyes, Ocelot saw willpower and strength. Greater than the Kong had ever possessed. General Revolver Ocelot then made a decision he would've had nightmares about a few days ago.

"Get close to Valek," he barked to the pilot, "And open the back door."

The ramp of the helicopter started to drop with a metallic creek, followed by wind whipping into the new entrance. Luigi stepped out onto the inclined surface, staring out into the night, feeling himself buffered by the drafts. He looked down the massive drop into the streets of Harlem, but before he could jump, he felt a hand grab his wrist.

"LUIGI, NO!" Daisy shouted to be heard over the wind, "YOU CAN'T DO THIS! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW IF YOU'LL CHANGE!"

"YES I DO!" Luigi shouted back, "I CAN'T CONTROL HIM, BUT IF I KINDA AIM HIM-"

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!"

Luigi pulled her closer to him so they didn't have to scream at each other.

"Yes, yes I am," he said, "But I have to do this. I'm the only one who can." He brushed her auburn hair away from her face. "I love you."

They kissed, tainted by the aura of finality that it carried. As if both knew they would not get another chance to do this. As they parted, Daisy gave him a weak smile, stepping back into the chopper with her father. Ocelot just glared at Luigi.

"You're friggin' crazy, Martin," he grumbled.

Luigi smiled at him.

"Thank goodness for that, because if I wasn't, this'd probably never work**."

With that, he jumped. Daisy couldn't stop herself from gasping as she watched her beloved fall out of sight.

Luigi closed his eyes as he fell. His monitor had already started beeping up a storm, signaling his pulse had skyrocketed. Heights had been one of his greater fears, and now he was experiencing the result of jumping from one. He gritted his teeth, preparing for the nightmarish transformation that would soon overtake his body.

And felt nothing.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING-?!" Luigi started to scream, before he was interrupted by the his body slamming into the asphalt.

Thousands of feet in the air, Daisy gasped.

* * *

The newly formed crater in the streets of Harlem didn't move. Pieces of asphalt covered the man who had fallen, or whatever was left of what you would assume to be his mangled corpse. So one can imagine the confusion of the average onlooker once the rubble started to shift.

Then the giant hairy fist punched through the debris.

With a grunt, the Kong heaved himself from the ruins Luigi had created. His pants thankfully remained intact, though a loose line of cotton that was once his shirt hung from his massive body. The Kong noticed, and ripped it apart, leaving his chest bare. He proceeded to climb the rest of the way out of the crater, standing square in the middle of the street. He looked on, noticing his target was still smashing things up ahead. Kong then tensed his muscles, stomped the ground, and roared.

The bellowing beast managed to attract Mumkhar's attention. He turned on his scaled foot, discovering that he'd been joined by another gigantic monster, who matched him in size.

"Kong..." he growled, a grin spreading across his reptile-like features. At last, a challenge.

Mumkhar tossed the car he'd been smashing aside, setting off at a light jogging pace towards his mortal enemy. The Kong matched his speed, but both combatants began to speed up, eventually charging at each other at full speed. Their footfalls were so strong they cracked the street, leaving pits in their wake. Within a few yards of each other, both titans leaped at each other, fists pulled back. Both Mumkhar and the Kong swung with full force, catching each other on the jaw.

They were the strongest punches that had ever been thrown on Earth. Waves of pure force pulsed out from the impact point, shattering windows into minute shards. Both monsters roared in agony as they fell backwards, hitting the ground hard and rolling from the momentum. The Kong struggled to stand, but Mumkhar beat him to it. He jumped back over to the Kong, striking him across the face with a vicious back hand, while Mumkhar's claws grazed his face. The shaggy creature was tossed backwards once more, crashing through a loose taxi on the way.

Dazed, the Kong climbed to his feet once more. For one of the few times in it's relatively short existence, the beast was wary, it had been hurt. He looked down at his hand, noticing a few drops of his own crimson blood dripping onto the the muscular flesh. Kong curled his fingers in frustration, the pain only adding to his own fury.

Mumkhar was merely elated by this latest development. He didn't even both to pounce on the Kong when he had the chance. Instead, he stood laughing, approaching step by step.

"COME ON! IS THAT IT?!" he bellowed, cackling like a maniac.

The Kong was raging, but he was more intelligent than most would assume. Directly charging his opponent would be another failure. He searched his environment for any assets to use, before his eyes fell on an abandoned police cruiser. Gritting his teeth, the Kong snarled, raised his fists, and began pounding on the center of the car. When he'd done enough damage, he plunged his hand through it, ripping it in half, grabbing both pieces, in a move similar to what he'd done at Woohoo Hooniversity. Kong slammed his new car boxing gloves together with a metallic bang.

Mumkhar payed no heed to Kong's tactics, diving at him with his claws outstretched. Kong raised on the his glove to block the blades, before smacking Mumkhar across the face with the other. Stunned, Mumkhar Valek was unable to dodge the following strikes which slowly pounded his back into the asphalt. Scrap metal flew in all directions with every blow, along with drops of Mumkhar's blood. Eventually, Kong tossed the remaining pieces of the car away, seized Mumkhar by the throat, and began hammering on Mumkhar's face with his bare fist. After several heavy blows, he stopped, but kept his fist primed in case the soldier had any fight left.

Mumkhar's face was covered with lacerations, but they were already started to heal. One of his eyes was slightly swollen shut, and he leaned over and spat out one of his fangs. He turned back to the Kong.

"YOU HIT LIKE A GIRL," he growled.

Kong roared, pulling his fist back for another punch, but the blow was intercepted by Mumkhar's claws. Mumkhar proceeded to headbutt him, before pulling back both legs and slamming them into Kong's gut. The hairy creature was flung back through the air, straight through the building behind him, and down into the dumpster.

Mumkhar, eager to keep smashing his nemesis, jumped up to the newly created hole, staring after the Kong. However, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of helicopter blades. Behind him, Ocelot's chopper had descended, and all the occupants were now observing the battle currently tearing apart Harlem.

Ocelot groaned. He should've known this was a bad idea. After all, it was Martin's. Then again, at least they hadn't caused as much collateral damage as it would've taken to bring in sufficient force to bring down Mumkhar.

"Take aim!" he shouted to the soldier manning the gatling gun, "We want that thing down now! Help him!"

"Which one?" asked the gunner.

"THE HAIRY ONE, YOU IDIOT! RIP THE SPIKED ONE APART!" screamed Ocelot.

The soldier obeyed, spraying Mumkhar with bullets. Unfortunately, his thick scales blocked the metal projectiles from piercing. Of course, gatling gun shots, fired from a helicopter, can't exactly be ignored by any living creature. Mumkhar roared with fury as the bullets beat into his thick hide.

"Ocelot.." he growled, barely sparing a glance at his former commanding officer. If he wanted to be a part of this, fine.

Mumkhar dug his claws into the crumbling brick wall, leaping up on the roof. Ocelot's chopper followed, continuing to train it's fire on the running beast, but the shots fell short. Mumkhar went across the rooftops, clearing each one in a single jump. Upon approximately the dozenth jump, he suddenly dashed around a billboard. The helicopter followed, swinging around the obstacle.

It was then that Mumkhar sprung his trap, diving towards the flying vehicle.

Which, coincidentally, was the same time that Kong caught up to him.

Mumkhar seized the helicopter by one of it's landing struts, his weight causing it to tilt dangerously to one side. Right behind him, the Kong leaped up, grabbing one of Mumkar's legs. The chopper began to swerve even more, the weight of the two gargantuan beasts threatening to yank it out of the sky.

Inside the chopper, everyone by the pilot frantically held on for dear life, trying to avoid rolling with the vehicle. The pilot wrestled with the controls, desperately trying to regain some semblance of a balanced flight. The tail of the chopper smacking into various objects, chipping a billboard and sending a water tower crashing down onto the roof.

Mumkhar, distracted from his attempts to kill Ocelot, started kicking the Kong in the face with his free foot, trying to force the gigantic monkey to release him. But Kong gripped as hard as he could, reaching up with his free hand and grabbing the spikes emerging from Mumkhar's spine. Mumkhar roared in agony as the bony protrusions bent, and swung his leg to try and slam the Kong into a building. His shifting only made the helicopter shake even more, leaning dangerously close to the pillar of what had been an abandoned building.

Which it promptly hit.

Mumkhar and the Kong were thrown away, crashing through ruins and scraping their bodies against the rough ground. The chopper slammed on it's side, the propeller blades breaking off and flying away. The tail snapped off in the middle, clanking to the ground. It finally came to a rest on it's side.

Inside the crashed chopper, Daisy had been thrown from her seat, crashing into the wall that had become the floor. She struggled to maintain consciousness, feeling every new bruise ache, and the multitude of cuts and scratches on her body sting. Her hair had become matted with her own blood, and she felt more dripping from her lips. She managed to force herself to her feet, wincing as she felt the grinding of the bones. She glanced around, trying to see in the dimmed light of the crashed helicopter and gasped once she realized that the other occupants seemed to be dead.

Then she heard a groan from the front. Daisy whirled around, discovering Ocelot had been pinned under a large chunk of metal. He had similar injuries as her, along with his leg being slightly crushed, but seemed be okay otherwise. Daisy scuttled over to him.

"Here, let me help...stay still..." she spat out, trying to lift the metal off his leg. It eventually reached a point where Ocelot could slide his leg out.

On the outside of the chopper, the Kong began to regain some of his strength, as his new injuries began to heal themselves. He shook his head, glancing at the wreckage of the helicopter, unable to see if Daisy was okay. To his horror, he noticed that fuel from the damaged vehicle was beginning to pool around the wreckage, while sparks flew from the broken propeller. Some of Luigi's intelligence flashed in his mind, aware of exactly what would happen if one spark reached the fuel. The Kong began to frantically struggle to his feet.

And promptly received a punch in the face.

Kong was knocked into the foundation of the abandoned building, causing chunks of brick to crack off and fall. Mumkhar cackled, charging straight into the Kong and pinning his neck back with one forearm. His other arm went to work, hammering into Kong's chest and face. The Kong fought back, landing a few blows, but it was clear that Mumkhar had the upper hand in brute strength. As if that weren't bad enough, Mumkhar eventually seized both his wrists, pinning them against the wall, and started kicking him in the gut.

"YOU DON'T DESERVE THIS POWER, MARTIN!" Mumkhar roared, spraying the Kong in the face with his spit, "NOW DIE FOR WASTING MY TIME!"

With that, he plunged one hand full of claws into the upper right corner of Kong's chest, dragging them down diagonally across his torso, raking through the muscled flesh. The Kong roared in absolute agony, feeling the worst pain he'd ever felt. His blood began to drip down coating his pants in a thick layer of crimson. Kong managed to throw a few week blows, but they failed to do anything to deter Mumkhar.

That was when it happened. The Kong glanced at the chopper, still dangerously close to igniting. In the side door, he saw a head of auburn hair poke out, followed by the rest of Daisy. She supported Ocelot with her own body, one of his arms thrown around her neck. Something inside the Kong stirred at the sight of her, a feeling of determination. His strength surged as his fury grew.

" _Daisy...help...Daisy..."_ said the voice of Luigi Martin.

The slashes in his chest forgotten, the Kong grabbed Mumkhar's cutting arm with one hand, and yanked the other arm away from his throat with the other hand. The former soldier gasped in shock, but quickly recovered. The two titanic beasts grappled for a moment, both trying to force his opponent to release. Eventually, Kong won out, shoving Mumkhar back a few feet. Mumkhar retaliated by charging forward, but Kong caught him by both horns, hurling the beast behind him, where he slammed face first into the crumbling foundation. Mumkhar slumped, dazed from the impact.

Kong spun around to face the helicopter once again, only to have his terrors confirmed. One single sparked reached the puddle of fuel, causing it to burst into flame. The orange fire spread, climbing up the metal wreckage, licking it's surface.

In the split second he had before it combusted, the Kong formulated a new plan. He dashed forward, swung both arms back, and then brought them around again, bringing his giant palms together in one mighty clap.

The resulting gust of wind nearly knocked the entire chopper off the building. Daisy and Ocelot were pushed backwards inside, slamming against what had once been the floor. The flames, on the other hand, were completely snuffed out, leaving no trace. Daisy pulled herself out of the top again, breathing a sigh of relief. Her fears quickly returned, however, once she looked at the Kong.

"LOOK OUT-!" she started to scream, but it was too late.

Mumkhar had seized a massive chain, along with a heavy weight attached to the end. He swung it in a massive circle, causing the weight to collide with the side of the Kong, knocking him off to the side. Cackling, Mumkhar charged towards the ruins of the helicopter, where Daisy and Ocelot were frozen to the spot.

"GENERAL..." Mumkhar cackled, swinging his chain around. The weight seemed to float above his head. "ANY LAST WORDS?" He couldn't wait to see the look on Martin's face as he crushed his girlfriend and her father into a bloody pulp.

Ocelot didn't have anything to say, as he was busy crapping his pants. Kong, on the other hand, climbed back to his feet once more. His eyes narrowed in rage as his watched Mumkhar, laughing as he prepared to kill. Snorting in ever mounting fury, he raised both his arms, clenching his fists.

"KONG..." he roared, "SMASH!"

He slammed both of his fists into the ground, sending seismic shockwaves pulsing out. The floor split open, sending cracks snaking across it. The crack eventually reached Mumkhar's foot, causing it to drop down, getting caught inside.

Shocked, Mumkhar allowed his grip on the chain to relax, causing the metallic whip to drop from it's place in the air. In addition, the massive weight attached to the end of the chain came down with it, right on Mumkhar's head with a sickening crack. One of his horns snapped off in the process, and Mumkhar was left dazed.

Kong didn't stop there, of course. He charged up behind the trapped monster, grabbing the length of chain on his way. He wrapped it around Mumkhar's neck from the back, pulling as hard as he could on it. Mumkhar fought back, scratching Kong's arms with his claws, bitting into any flesh he could reach, and struggling with more ferocity than a dying animal.

The Kong roared again as Mumkhar bit one of his fingers, nearly severing it. His rage reaching a boiling point, Kong gripped one of the bone spikes emerging from Mumkhar's spine, and pulled, tearing it free from it's spot. Lifting his makeshift spear, he stabbed downward, piercing Mumkhar just below his heart.

Mumkhar screeched, an unholy sound that stung the ears of anybody within listening distance. His strength failed him, and his arms hung limply at his sides. Kong yanked the chain with renewed vigor, constricting around Mumkhar's throat. The creature's breathing quickened, becoming brief pants as he tried to get air into his lungs. His red eyes bulged out, fear and panic seeping into them for the first time.

"STOP!"

Kong was so surprised by the scream that he nearly dropped the chain. Standing across from him was Daisy, her hand held out to him. The sight brought out Luigi's essence in him, and he looked down at the pathetic monster at his feet. The monster that could barely breathe, couldn't even stand anymore. The Kong might've been a monster, but he didn't want to kill. Not if he had a chance. Taking a deep breath, the Kong dropped the chain, giving Mumkhar a haymaker on the head to knock him out. Then he lifted Mumkhar out of the pit, tossing him away.

The mutated soldier landed at the feet of Ocelot, who looked up into the eyes of the monster he'd hunted. Ocelot wasn't sure what to feel at the moment. His hatred towards Martin still remained, but Martin had just saved him from a disaster that he'd created. Had he been wrong the entire time? Should he had just taken in Martin and given him the chance to find a cure?

Kong ignored him, focusing instead on Daisy. He walked slowly towards her, looking down on her with a face filled with emotion. Not pure sadness, but perhaps regret. A single tear slid out of his brown eye.

"Daisy..." he muttered.

"It's okay..." said the woman. She was crying as well, but she held a smile on her face. Luigi had been wrong. There was good in the Kong, not just mindless destruction. "I'm so proud of you..."

The two were suddenly cut off by a blaring spotlight. Shielding his face with one hand, Kong looked up into the sky, seeing a news helicopter had arrived on the scene. Police choppers were following close behind, and it wouldn't be long before they landed. Kong looked back at Daisy, and unspoken words passed between them. He needed to leave.

With that, the Incredible Kong dashed off into the night.

* * *

 ***Is anybody even going to get this reference?**

 ****I couldn't resist. I just, like, instinctively thought of this while I was writing this scene.  
**


	8. Chapter 8: Move Along

**Well, here we are. Enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 8: Move Along

 **Virginia**

It had all been for nothing.

This was the only thought drifting through Daisy Ocelot's head, as she wandered across the halls of Woohoo Hooniversity. She'd been released from Ocelot's custody a few days ago, after the long and agonizing inquiry, along with the hospital time, and given enough cash to make it back home. Afterwards, she returned to her teachings, but her heart clearly wasn't in it, and she stumbled through the days, barely aware of her surroundings. Peasley had called, concerned, but she'd brushed him off, wanting to be alone. All she could do was sit with her thoughts.

Luigi Martin was gone again. Unlike last time, she actually knew why, but it was almost worse. Sure, the Kong had saved countless lives, but could Luigi and his alter ego really work together? Or would the two continue to wrestle for control, driving Luigi to search for cures again? She looked at the sky, wondering where Luigi was now, and if he could make it on his own again. The thoughts were heartbreaking.

Daisy dragged herself up the stairs to her empty house, grabbing the mail only out of reflex. Inside, she casually tossed everything into the recycle bin, not even bothering to look at the addresses. Suddenly, she heard a thump inside the bin, and glanced down at the last envelope she'd dropped. Daisy picked it up, noting that it was clearly heavier, and there was a lumped shape inside. There was no return address, but Daisy's heart skipped a beat when she recognized the handwriting in the scrawled address.

She ripped the envelope open, discovering that the heavy object was her mother's broach that had been pawned, returned once more. Attached was a folded slip of paper, and Daisy nearly tore it open. Scribbled on, in that same neat, steady handwriting, was a simple message:

 _I'll be fine. I love you._

Daisy stared at the note for a long time. Then she smiled.

* * *

 **Somewhere in the Canadian Wilderness**

It'd been a miracle he'd been able to get access to this old cabin in the first place. The guy who used to own it had been oddly accepting, just taking his money without asking any questions. Then again, Luigi Martin had learned not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

He placed his rug in the middle of the floor, sitting down in the cross-legged position. He took deep breaths, and began to clench his fists and teeth, shutting his eyes as he concentrated. Luigi's heart began to accelerate, pumping faster and faster, to the point where could almost hear the pounding in his ears.

"You ready?" he asked. An unspoken answer was passed through his mind

Luigi's eyes snapped open, and they were brown

* * *

 **Cast**

 **Luigi (Super Mario Bros.) - Dr. Bruce Banner**

 **Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong Country) - The Hulk**

 **Princess Daisy (Super Mario Land) - Dr. Betty Ross**

 **Adamska "Revolver" Ocelot (Metal Gear Solid) - General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross**

 **Mumkhar (Xenoblade Chronicles) - Emil Blonsky**

 **Bowser (Super Mario Bros.) - The Abomination**

 **Prince Peasley (Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga) - Dr. Leonard Samson**

 **Professor E. Gadd (Luigi's Mansion) - Dr. Samuel Sterns**

* * *

"So, how exactly do you have the authority to order this?" Ocelot demanded, trying very hard not to crush his phone. He'd received a message that he was to cease and desist all attempts to investigate and/or apprehend Luigi Martin

"Simple," said Snake, grinning on the other end, "S.A.F.E.'s function is to keep the peace, something you've repeatedly disturbed by pissing off a giant monkey."

"Hey! I was trying to bring Martin in-!"

"Need I also mention the illegal super soldier experiments I've heard about?"

Ocelot groaned. It was clear he wasn't going to win this argument.

"Alright, you win. For now," he growled, before hanging up.

Snake grinned. "Same old Ocelot," he laughed, "Can't take anything lying down." He dialed a new number into his phone.

"This is Snake...Yeah, we've got our eyes on Martin. He can't hide from someone he doesn't know is watching him. Uh-huh...uh-huh...If she'll agree to it, and that's a big if. Yeah, we've got Gadd in custody." Snake turned to face the containment cell on the other side of the room. "Our guys are looking at him, but they've never seen anything like it...I understand." He hung up, walking away.

Inside the cell, the man formerly known as Professor Elvin Gadd sat slumped on the floor, unmoving. His skin had turned completely green, causing all of his aging wrinkles to fade. His hair had fallen out. His mouth was frozen in a permanent smile, his teeth becoming unnaturally white.

"I have fury..." he mumbled.

* * *

 **I change the mid-credits scene because, although Iron Man's cameo was awesome, it ultimately added up to nothing, only being tied into that one short movie.**

 **The idea was to have E. Gadd become Fawful, as a version of the Leader. He would've been involved in Tales of the MSU, which would be shorter stories between movies.**

 **I say was because, for the foreseeable future, I don't plan on continuing this series.**

 **Yeah, I know.**

 **Let me explain. I started this series because I thought it would be a fun thing to do, combining some of my favorite series. I intended for this to be semi-serious, with comedic elements thrown in. Unfortunately, I've discovered two things: One, I'm not very good at comedy, and two, making these stories doesn't feel satisfying. I don't feel like I'm living up to my fanfiction potential by doing these (I don't know, transplant fics?). Really, I just want to make more original stories, and have the chance to be more creative my way, and say things about great characters that hasn't already been said. Now, there's nothing wrong with transplant fics in general. Gamer4's been doing it for years, and he's doing just fine. It's just not for me. I'm just not proud of these two stories.**

 **With that being said, I'm so thankful to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and followed both Iron Woman and the Incredible Kong. Both stories are at over one-thousand views, and it's really a huge honor to know that many people took the time to look at my stories. Maybe I'll return to this, maybe I won't. We'll have to see.**

 **I'll post a list of casts that I would've chosen if I had continued, just so you know what I would've done. Thank you all so much.**


	9. Chapter 9: Cast Lists

**Cast Lists**

 **Iron Woman: Alcohol and Violence**

 **Sylux (Metroid Prime: Hunters) - Ivan Vanko/Whiplash**

 **Blue Oak (Pokemon Red and Blue) - Justin Hammer**

 **Lucina (Fire Emblem: Awakening) - Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (This might be an odd choice, but I don't think Bayonetta has Widow's personality)**

 **Chancellor Cole (The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks) - Senator Stern**

 **Link: God of Courage**

 **(Headcanon: Link is worthy to lift Mjölnir)**

 **Link (The Legend of Zelda) - Thor Odinson**

 **Master Sword (The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past) - Mjölnir**

 **Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule (The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker) - Allfather Odin Borson**

 **Farore (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time) - Queen Frigga**

 **Vaati (The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap) - Loki Laufeyson**

 **Ashei (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess) - Lady Sif**

 **Hyrule (The Legend of Zelda) - Asgard**

 **Twilight Realm (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess) - Jotunheim**

 **Zant (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess) - King Laufey**

 **Mirror of Twilight (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess) - Casket of Ancient Winters**

 **Zelda (The Legend of Zelda) - Dr. Jane Foster**

 **Rusl (The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess) - Dr. Eric Selvig**

 **Iron Knuckle (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time) - The Destroyer**

 **Captain Falcon: The First Avenger**

 **Mario/Captain Falcon (Super Mario Bros./F-Zero) - Steve Rogers/Captain America**

 **Jack/Raiden (Metal Gear Solid 2) - James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes/Winter Soldier**

 **Pauline (Donkey Kong Arcade) - Agent Peggy Carter**

 **Professor Samuel Oak (Pokemon Red and Blue) - Dr. Abraham Erskine**

 **Albert Wesker (Resident Evil) - Johann Schmidt/The Red Skull**

 **Dr. Albert Wily (Mega Man) - Dr. Arnim Zola**

 **Colonel Roy Campbell (Metal Gear Solid) - Colonel Chester Phillips**

 **Lustrous Orb (Pokemon Pearl) - Tesseract/Space Stone**

 **The Avengers**

 **Pit (Kid Icarus) - Clint Barton/Hawkeye**

 **Meryl Silverburgh (Metal Gear Solid) - Agent Maria Hill**

 **Primids (Super Smash Bros Brawl) - Chitauri soldiers**

 **Steelix (Pokemon Gold and Silver) - Chitauri Leviathans**

 **Trident of Demise (Hyrule Warriors) - Loki's Scepter/Mind Stone**

 **Agahnim (The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past) - The Other**

 **Ganondorf (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time) - Thanos**

 **Battleship Halberd (Kirby Super Star) - Helicarrier**

 **Iron Woman: Corruption**

 **Ridley (Metroid) - The Mandarin (Trevor Slattery would've been just a decoy)**

 **Gandrayda (Metroid Prime 3: Corruption) - Aldrich Killian**

 **Professor Owlan (The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword) - Dr. Maya Hansen**

 **Phazon (Metroid Prime 3: Corruption) - Extremis**

 **Link: The Demon World**

 **Ghirahim (The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword) - Malekith the Accursed**

 **Hylia (The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword) - Bor Burison**

 **General Onox (The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons) - Algrim/Kurse**

 **Demons (The Legend of Zelda) - Dark Elves**

 **Triforce (The Legend of Zelda) - Aether/Reality Stone**

 **Captain Falcon: The Grey Fox**

 **Lysandre (Pokemon X and Y) - Secretary Alexander Pierce**

 **Samurai Goroh (F-Zero) - Georges Batroc**

 **Falco (Star Fox) - Sam Wilson/The Falcon**

 **Wolf O'Donnel (Star Fox) - Brock Rumlow/Crossbones**

 **Princess Peach (Super Mario Bros.) - Sharon Carter/Agent 13**

 **Guardians of the Galaxy**

 **Little Mac (Punch Out) - Peter Quill/Starlord**

 **Viridi (Kid Icarus: Uprising) - Gamora**

 **Knuckles (Sonic the Hedgehog) - Drax the Destroyer**

 **Pikachu (Pokemon Red and Blue) - Rocket Raccoon**

 **Yoshi (Yoshi's Island) - Groot**

 **Magalor (Kirby's Return to Dreamland) - Ronan the Accuser**

 **Medusa (Kid Icarus) - Nebula**

 **Pyrrhon (Kid Icarus: Uprising) - Yondu Udonta**

 **General Pepper (Star Fox) - Nova Prime/Irani Rael**

 **Red (Pokemon Red and Blue) - Taneleer Tivan/ The Collector**

 **Master Emerald (Sonic the Hedgehog 3) - Orb of Morag/Power Stone**

 **Cornaria (Star Fox) - Planet Xandar**

 **Avengers: Age of Sigma**

 **Sigma (Mega Man X) - Ultron**

 **Dr. Arthur Light (Mega Man) - Dr. Helen Cho**

 **Mega Man (Mega Man) - The Vision**

 **Owain (Fire Emblem: Awakening) - Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver**

 **Morgan (Fire Emblem: Awakening) - Wanda Maximoff/Scarlett Witch**

 **Giovanni (Pokemon Red and Blue) - Baron Wolfgang von Strucker**

 **Ylisse (Fire Emblem: Awakening) - Sokovia**

 **Ghetsis (Pokemon Black and White) - Ulysses Klaue**

 **Pik-Man**

 **Alph (Pikmin 3) - Scott Lang/Ant-Man**

 **Charlie (Pikmin 3) - Dr. Hank Pym**

 **Brittany (Pikmin 3) - Hope van Dyne/Wasp**

 **Louie (Pikmin 2) - Darren Cross/Yellowjacket**

 **Pikmin (Pikmin) - Ants**

 **Titan Dweevil (Pikmin 2) - Yellowjacket suit**

 **Captain Falcon: Civil War**

 **Lucario (Pokemon Diamond and Pearl) - T'Challa/Black Panther**

 **Sonic (Sonic the Hedgehog) - Peter Parker/Spider-Man**

 **Yen'fay (Fire Emblem: Awakening) - Colonel Helmut Zemo**

 **Robin: Sorcerer Supreme**

 **Robin (Fire Emblem: Awakening) - Dr. Stephen Strange**

 **Validar (Fire Emblem: Awakening) - Baron Mordo**

 **Tiki (Fire Emblem: Awakening) - The Ancient One**


End file.
